


Solider finds his way back home

by KassyFrost



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alpha Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Military, Alternate Universe - Parents, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF) Is Whipped, Cyber Security Officer Dream, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship, Family Bonding, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fights, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting Back Together, Grandparents & Grandchildren, Hurt/Comfort, Jealousy, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Night Terrors, Omega GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Overprotective, Panda Nanny SapNap, Post-Break Up, SapNap is a Zoo keeper, Single Parent GeorgeNotFound, Single Parents, Slice of Life, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Twins, Unhealthy Relationships, War, figure out what's going to happen before it's too late, haha I left clues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:42:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27146818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KassyFrost/pseuds/KassyFrost
Summary: Clay hasn’t talked to George in years, 9 years exactly. But on his way home, freshly released from his military duty he meets the omega from 9 years ago. The male that he had last seen in college the day they had that stupid argument. An argument that made Clay storm out of the dorm in a hurry as George screamed insults after him.But George is not alone, next to the man are two children that look a bit too similar to Clay for it to be a coincidence.What did he miss in these 9 years?-----This work has now Dyslexic Font, I hope it helps! If you don't like it, simply click the button "Hide Creator's Style" and it will vanish <3The dyslexic font was added 26.11.2020----
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Dave | Technoblade, Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 171
Kudos: 821





	1. Chapter 1: A Party at Richie's Place

**Author's Note:**

> I promsied you a new dnf fanfiction and here it is! See it as my present for the start of the holidays. (Might even add a special halloween chapter if people want that.)  
> Don't forget to share your own ideas for the story!
> 
> °•~Also big shout-out to my lovely Beta Reader:~•°  
> noraneptune
> 
> Follow me on Twitter! I interact with my moots and I follow back.  
> https://twitter.com/Kassyseptic
> 
> OR support me with a coffee!  
> https://ko-fi.com/kassyfrost

Clay swung the jacket over his shoulder as they entered the house of one his old high school friends. Richie, an old friend from his high school’s football team, was attending the same college and had invited him to join his party. So Clay had gathered Nick and George into his VW and driven the 30 Minutes to the apartment in the middle of the city. George had complained on the way there, the omega wasn’t a big party animal, but Clay had gotten him to join with a few pleads and a promise that George wouldn’t be alone. 

Clay would be with him, so George was safe, and George trusted him. Nick had been easy to convince to come with him; The beta was always his second half in these kinds of situations. Nick had been his friend since diapers, so partying together was nothing new. Hell, Nick was the guy he tried weed with for the first time; He’d never forget the time where they watched the National Geographic’s channel until 5 am. Watching a lion hunt a zebra had never been that interesting again. 

He took a turn to the left and parked the car on a street next to Richie’s house. He knew it was best to park further away unless he wanted to take the chance and become a target for possible toilet paper pranks. He did not want to damage his car's paint just for one good night. 

He got out of the car and helped George out too.

“Still a simp,”Nick uttered as he shook his head and bumped shoulders with Clay.

“It’s called being a gentleman, but you wouldn’t know anything about that,” Clay joked and helped George out. 

George had chosen a rather tame outfit against what some of the omegas inside would be wearing. Which was a shame, he would have loved to see George all dressed up.

George had borrowed his hoodie from the day before and had worn some simple ripped jeans. The hoodie was supposed to help him shoo away unwanted alphas. Clays scent should keep them away. It made him somehow proud to have George surrounded with his scent. He looked back down at George and gave the other a small smile to cheer him up. George tried his best to smile back at him but Clay noticed how forced it was. He sighed and slung an arm around the other as Nick led the way to Richie's party. 

He’d muchrather have George comfortable at a party. It was more than worth it to lose the chance to see George in more revealing clothes if the other had a good time. 

Nick didn’t even have to knock at the door as it swung open and a drunken beta girl stumbled out right in front of them to vomit into the grass. George saw the full thing unfold with big eyes and tried to turn around, but Clay pushed him inside the house.

“Nope. You need to get out there from time to time. Let’s have some fun! These days are never going to come back!”

“Maybe, but I’d rather not wake up with a headache tomorrow.”

“That’s a weak excuse and you know it. You don’t need to drink alcohol. I won’t! I’m the one driving us back so if you want you can, but Nick definitely will, am I right?”

“Oh hell yeah baby. Watch this!” Nick bragged and took a shot glass from the table at the door. He drowned it in a second and cheered as he mixed into the crows to find some old friends. 

“Okay,”,George said dragging out the ‘oh’ sound. “Don’t you dare do something like that. If you leave me standing here I’ll never let you here the end of it,” George muttered and Clay readjusted his grip around George's shoulders.

“I’m telling you it’s going to be fine. Let’s greet Rich, I want to catch up,” Clay stumbled with George in tow around the mass of people dancing and swinging their hips to the music. The music was good- it wasn’t exactly Clay’s style but he could totally dance with it. And they were at a party so that was basically the only thing that mattered. 

He spotted Richie leaning against the table with different drinks inside the open kitchen area. There was a guy with pinkish red hair next to him and another guy Clay recognized from the broad shoulders. 

“Aaron! Richie! What’s up?”, he greeted them and they turned towards him with a smile.

“What’s up Clay? Who’s that with ya? You got an omega again?”, Richie asked and Clay shrugged.

“We’re dating, yeah. This is George. George, meet Richie and Aaron. Richie was my school's Fullback, Aaron was a Tackle. It seems so long ago now.”

“Hey, nice to meet you,” George greeted and the two guys turned to him in surprise.

“Oh you’re British!” Aaron quipped and George nodded.

“Yeah. I entered an exchange program but then I met Clay and now I am staying here.”

Clay grinned and patted George's shoulder a bit. George getting along with his old friends was pretty nice!”

“That’s cool.”

“Are you going to introduce me or will I stand here forever, Rich?”, the pink haired man asked and pushed himself off from the table. 

“Oh right. Clay and George, this is Techno. He was in the same program as me till he dropped out and joined the army,”

Clay whistled and turned towards Techno. 

“A solider! Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be at the training camp?”

The male shrugged his shoulders and shook his head which made the pink hair swing around his shoulders.

“Nah, I got a week to visit my family. After Saturday I’ll be on my way back again.”

“Richie you major in English, right? So Techno, how does one switch from English to the army?”

“Eh, it’s a long story. But why, are you interested?” the pink haired male joked, and Clay shook his head. 

Dying was not on his list of things to do in the summer. 

“I’d rather not.”

George tucked at his shirt and pointed with a nod into the direction of Nick. Nick was dancing with a redhead in a golden tight dress. They were grinding against each other as the electrical music got wilder. Nothing too bad, as long as Nick was fine with it he’d leave the other to his own accords.

“He’s fine. Don’t worry,” he promised, and George raised his eyebrow as he continued to stare at Nick's little dirty dancing moment. 

Clay dismissed it and joined back into the conversation of their little round. 

Techno had outstretched his hand and was offering him a pack of cigarettes. Clay took one and thanked the other as the pink haired man offered everyone else one as well. George was still staring at Nick and keeping an eye out for their friend, leading Clay to roll his eyes at the mother hen feelings George harnessed and concentrated on the people in front of him. 

“Got a lighter?” he asked, and before Techno could even answer, Richie lit up the cigarette in his hand. He hummed in thanks as the cigarette head touched his lips and he inhaled smoke. 

“So about the story about you joining the military,” pondered Clay, “Why did ya do it?”

“I guess it was a more financially stable option. You see they pay for your studying if you serve afterwards for a specific time. And I guess most people know this but never consider the huge benefits.”

Clay nodded for the male to continue as he blew the cigarette smoke out of his mouth. 

A huff sounded from below him and someone snatched his cigarette from his hands in a swift motion. 

“Stop with that! It’s bad for you, do you really want lung cancer so soon?”

He grimaced at George’s worrisome nature. He knew the omega was just looking out for him but the moment for it wasn’t right. He leaned down and brushed through George's hair and used the direction to snatch back the cigarette. 

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll finish this one outside so it doesn’t bother you, and when I’m back, you won’t even smell it. Promise.”

George bit his lip ready to say something but nodded in acceptance.

“Hurry. You promised to stay close.”

“I know and I am right around the corner. Richie, can you look a bit after George? I’ll be back in a sec. Techno, want to come with me?”

“Sure, show the way.”

The soldier followed him outside into the cool air of the night. They sat down on the loveseat in the garden and Clay leaned his head back to blow out more smoke.

“Is he always this protective of you?”

“What, George? I mean yeah sure. He’s an omega so I get it. He’s just looking out for us in his own way. Sometimes he can be overbearing, but I love him, so it’s fine.”

“You’re whipped.”

“Oh, come on, not you too.”

“Hear that a lot? Your stance told me everything the second you walked in. That’s what you learn in the army, by the way. You were protecting him subconsciously.”

He hummed in defeat. He couldn’t argue with it; He did care for George a lot and he could admit that the male omega had him wrapped around the finger.

“Tell me about the military. What do you do there?”

“Honestly, it’s just constant training. Next to my training I study. I get food, clothes, and everything necessary at the base. I sold my apartment and moved my stuff in with my parents. I want to help my family with money, so I decided to not get that loan and support myself. I get a week away from base which is basically my vacation. I use it to help my family and enjoy some time. After I finish this damn training camp, I have to serve 5 years. But after those 5 years, I’ll be released with my diploma for free and, of course, the money I earned. I’ll have enough to sort out my situation and find a good job position, maybe I’ll become a teacher.”

“A teacher, for real? Who would want to get tortured by fifth graders.”

“Who says it’s going to be that way around?” the other joked and blew the grey smoke out into the night. 

Clay thought about Technos words It seemed a good idea in general, earning money while getting the diploma for basically free. As an alpha he’d even have a slight advantage over some of the others. He was built stronger genetically so maybe the army was a good idea.

“I guess it does sound pretty good.”

He never really thought about it. He knew that he’d be in debt after college, but he never really cared. He knew that that was just what it was like; Living in America meant you’d eventually be drowning in some kind of debt if you were middle class or below.

When he’d finish, he’d move in with George. That was their plan. Move in together, become more stable and see from there on. 

They’d be living day by day to pay off that debt. Financial stability was a long way away. The military could give him a head start. He’d be a safety net for George. 

The omega wouldn’t have to worry about the future if Clay could make it safe. 

“How hard is it?”

“The training? Pretty hard. You can’t get a hot head when something happens you don’t agree with. You gotta keep your calm while they throw you into the worst and then you gotta keep on pushing forward. “

“I meant the application.”

“Oh? You’re actually interested?” Techno pushed himself up straighter and drew his leg to his chest. 

“I guess, yeah.” he murmured and flicked his cigarette bud down to the ground. He stamped onto it and twisted a bit to properly stop it from causing any damage. 

“God, I can hear your thoughts. You can’t even deny it anymore. Admit it, you're whipped.” the other commented and made a whipping sound. 

Dream shook his head and hid his face inside his hands as he felt his face heat up a little. He couldn’t even deny it, he wouldn’t call it whipped but he could admit to him being more affectionate towards George. 

Clay brushed off the ashes of the cigarette from his pants and pulled out his phone. 

"Can you send me the link for the application form? I think I want to look into this."

"Look into it? Sweet, but you'll have to hurry. This is the last month they'll be accepting new cadets." Techno reached for the blonde’s phone and put the rest of his cigarettes between his lips. He opened the new contact option but not without looking up and drawing up an eyebrow at his most recent calls. 

He made a motion like a whip and Dream groaned. So what if he and George had a lot of late-night calls? It wasn't his decision that omegas weren't allowed to room with alphas. George's roommate had submitted complaints before because of their long chats over the phone at night, but at some nights they remained quiet and slept in the calming sense of knowing that the other was listening. 

Techno handed him back his phone and he tucked it back into his back pocket. 

"I should get back. Don't want to-" he grimaced as he felt the next words leave his mouth. Techno was already smiling knowingly and nodding. 

"Yeah, don't want to keep George waiting."

Clay didn't respond to the comment and made his way back inside to find George. 

He spotted said omega standing between the self-made DJ booth and the people playing spin the bottle. The omega stood alone and turned away from the crowd, Clay quickly slipped through the masses to get to him. 

He put a hand on George's shoulder and smiled as he turned around and relaxed as he saw the alpha’s face. 

George pulled Clay closer and nosed at his nape. 

"Your friends left to get more beer and I didn't want to leave you alone, George mumbled tugging at the end of his shirt.” By the way I can still smell the smoke.” George huffed and flared his nostrils a bit at the smell of the nicotine that had penetrated his clothes. Clay's body quickly reacted to comfort the omega, he rubbed at his neck in hopes of spreading his natural scent to cover the smell of the cigarette. 

"Better?" he questioned and leaned his head onto George's. 

The omega nodded and steadied himself with a tight grip on Clays shirt. 

"I want to go home, Clay. I tried it and it's just too loud."

He sighed and hid his nose in George's hair. 

"Let's try to stay for a bit longer, besides Nick needs a ride home."

"Oh no he doesn't. He's already gone. He went off with the beta girl from before. I saw him leave." George turned his head upwards and leaned his chin onto Clays chest and with the biggest pleading eyes he asked,

"Can we go home, alpha?" 

And there it was, Clays knees buckled a bit, but he kept himself steadied as best as he could. His instincts to care for George flared up and he rested his chin on the males’ head. 

"That's so unfair,” he mumbled but the omega’s only response was to laugh at him. George knew how to play his cards right, and he did it shamelessly.

He calmed himself with a few breaths and looked over the crowds of people to double check for the beta. He didn’t spot Nick's familiar face in the crowd, so he decided to trust the beta male to take care of himself. 

“I really wanted to dance with you, what a shame,” he mumbled and chuckled as he felt Georges back straighten. 

George looked up at him and with a knowing smile he was pulled into the crowds of people. He was happy that George could enjoy himself at the party a little bit at least. He had wanted to come here for the omega, to give him a change of pace and maybe just maybe to show the cute brunette off. 

He giggled slightly as the music changed to Shakira and the familiar song “Hips Don’t Lie” started playing. George stayed in his embrace but was slowly swinging his hips as his shoulders followed the beat. He smiled and traced his hips with his hands down the omegas sides as the beat started to pick up. 

He rolled his hips towards George and the omega circled his arms around his neck to draw him in closer. Some more people steered onto the dancing floor and they were quickly circled by couples all around them dancing to the beat. 

He felt George getting nervous from all the people around them so he decided to get them away from the crowd a bit. He took a few careful steps and made sure George understood his idea before he swooped the omega up into his arms and held him tightly against his chest supporting his weight with his hands on the omegas butt. Clay steered them through the crows to the outer ring, closer to the banquet, where he let George out of his grasp. 

A small protest was heard from the omega as he let him down and Clay had to chuckle at his boyfriend’s antics. 

“I’m not carrying you everywhere, don’t even try. I’m getting called whipped already as it is,” he whispered against Georges earlobe and he felt the atmosphere revert back to a more playful one. 

George’s mood had improved, and he was the reason. Clay let his hands travel up George’s arms till he reached his own neck and intertwined George’s hand with his. 

The music changed into an old 90’s classic song and Clay took it as their signal to leave. He twirled George and spiralled him back against his chest. 

“That was nice. I enjoyed it,” George mumbled into his chest and closed his eyes as they swayed a bit. 

Clay reached a hand behind him and pulled out his phone. He let George cuddle into him as they swayed to the music. He rested his chin on the omega’s head as he sent a text to Nick, informing him that they were going to leave. He put his phone back into his pocket and stepped out of the embrace to grasp George's hand. 

“Ready to go?”

George nodded with a smile that made his heart clench. Clay ushered him outside the door and checked one last time outside if he saw anyone familiar. But he didn’t spot anyone. He’d just have to inform Richie via a text that he left early. 

“I’m glad you liked it. I mean, it wasn’t long, but I had a good time with you.”

“And with that pink haired guy.”

Clay raised his eyebrow and jabbed George carefully. “You jelly?”

“Nah, I know your mine,” the omega whispered into the cold night and leaned his head onto his arm. Clay circled another arm around George's waist as they walked back to his car. 


	2. Chapter 2: Grocery Shopping with a kind stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well tiem to meet the two rascals :P
> 
> I might change their names soon but for now they'll stay like this.
> 
> Twitter:  
> @Kassyseptic

The music from his Spotify playlist ended leaving him in silence as he suppressed a groan. He checked to see if he had really just finished the playlist, he had started 10 years ago. It contained his favourite songs from college up to the military draft. Maybe that was what had spared his memory. 

He took off his earbuds and shoved them into his black jacket. Looking up he checked what the next station would be, the screen on the train and showed him that he was still 15 minutes away from his stop. He leaned back and let the noise of the others consume him as he let himself ponder. 

He wondered what life would be like from now on, he had a new apartment, a new job and no friends. He could try and contact his old friends, but he doubted they would all still be living around here. The last time he had heard from Nick was in September where he had gotten a letter that told him he’d gotten a promotion at his job and was starting to climb the ranks slowly. 

Nick had started out as a trainee zoo keeper and had finished his training 2 years ago, almost the same time as Clay had gotten released from his 3 additional years. Nick had sent him a letter where he had written about the opportunity to go to China and do some volunteer work there for a Zoo that had Pandas. Nick had gotten quickly attached to the black and white bears and had described in great detail his daily schedule with them. The beta had fallen in love with the job of a panda keeper and when the year ended he had switched from looking after the penguins and sea lions to the pandas. His training in China had gotten him enough knowledge about the fuzzy bears to get him the job and he loved it. 

Clay wished he’d be allowed to keep his phone in the military, but the chances of homesickness were too high and the officers had taken his and the others personal belongings on the very first day at the base. 

He had sent a letter to the address on the letter Nick had sent him, but he hadn’t received a phone call or text. Maybe his letter hadn’t arrived yet or had gotten lost?

His new number and his new address was inside the letter and the thought of that ending up in the wrongs hands made his stomach turn a bit. He took a deep breath and focused on his former thoughts. 

He hadn’t seen his best friend for nine years now. Or was it his former best friend now? Does one stop being best friends after not seeing the other for 9 years? 

No, Nick and he had too much history to just stop being friends after a few years. He was sure that when they finally met again the other would still be the same goofy beta he had last seen at the airport before he took off with the other recruits. 

The dark haired male had cried against his shoulder inside his embrace and Clay had tried his best to keep the tears in. He hadn’t wanted to cry on that day. He had shed enough tears in the weeks prior. 

He steered his thoughts away from the hurtful memory and thought about his new life. His new place was exciting, the only people inside had been his sister and the real estate agent. 

Drista had given him a tour through a video call on her phone. God he was lucky to have her, she had done a lot for him in the last year. His little sister had helped him with everything for his big move. He had been the one to book the times but she had to sign everything in his name on site. She had been the one to tell the movers where to go and where to put the objects. 

She had set up a kitchen for him and brought the necessaries for his home. Without her, he would have to spend a whole week getting everything to simply live there. 

She had made sure that his kitchen was filled with plates, some mugs, cutlery and that even the fridge was stocked up to contain eggs, bacon, butter and other provisions. 

Clay had made sure to transfer the money immediately to her account to show her how much he appreciated her work. It was hard for her; he knew so much. She had just finished college and was not even one year at her job. But she was juggling everything that was thrown at her in a steady rhythm. Sometimes he could still learn from his baby sister. 

The only thing that he would have to buy now was a car, and his dad had been on the lookout for him already. For two months, his father had scurried the newspaper and searched for the best deals and cut them out of the papers to make Clay a small scrapbook with different cars. The scrapbook was waiting at his family home and his parents were quite ready and excited to have their son back. He was just as excited to see his family. They had helped him so much all throughout life and the last year had proven just how much he could depend on them. 

His parents had packed everything in his childhood home all alone and he had sent the movers, which his sister had hired in her name, to move all the cardboard boxes into his new home. His sister had taken over from there and unpacked as much as she could. He felt so useless in the past year, but he knew he had no choice. He had to let his family help him like this if he wanted to get away from the military apartment complex. 

He was ready for this new epoch in his life. 

He tightened his hold on his backpack, filled with the mere essentials he had left. It was packed with the few items he had brought in when he started out; His personal clothes, his old phone, an old family Christmas picture and his military uniform. 

His old phone was something he wasn’t ready to open. He had turned on the power button only once after his release and the home screen had gotten damaged only seconds after. The image had shocked him to the core. His home screen was still an image of George, from their date inside an ice cream store. George was looking into the camera with a spoon on his nose and Clay caught him in the act.

He had contacted his parents and sister through the landline telephone for the first weeks before buying his new phone that only contained his parents number, his sister’s and Techno’s. 

“I’m telling papa!”

Clay groaned in annoyance at the shrill voice of the little kids interrupting his thoughts. He turned around and saw two children dressed up in matching Minecraft shirts. The little Steve on the shirt had the opposite mood of the two kids. The older one, a boy with blonde locks, had a sour expression that changed into one of fear at his sister’s words.

“You wouldn’t,” the boy hissed but his sister, a girl with blonde long hair and big blue glasses surprised him by immediately reaching for the man next to them on the train. 

“Papa! Papa! Leon is bullying me! Papa!” 

The little girl kept yanking on the man’s jacket and as Clay let his gaze wander upwards, he gasped.

Sitting five feet in front of him was George, his ex. The brunette hadn’t changed much over the years. His hair was still brushed to the side, his eyes were still the same dark chocolate brown that stared right through him into his heart (his heart that was currently tearing painfully). The omega’s features were slightly sharper, but he had gained some weight around his body. The lanky, geeky, brunette omega had turned into an even more beautiful man. George looked healthier than ever, but his eyes showed signs of tiredness. 

His stomach clenched as he resisted the urge to turn his head away from the brunette. The little girl had taken notice of her father’s silence and searched for answers in Georges face. She followed the omega’s gaze to find Clay and as Clay turned to look back at her she asked with curiosity dripping down the question:

“Who’s that?” 

Her brother followed her gaze, and his face mirrored his sister’s. Clay felt a sense of familiarity strike him. 

Blond hair that stuck up into every direction but the one it’s supposed to, eyebrows that are so blonde they seem almost transparent in the daylight and a smile that shows a missing tooth. An oddly familiar face, a face that makes his heart clench up even more. 

He turned his head back to the girl and as he looked her over he could see similarities. The first he spotted the obvious brown hair that is so similar to George's own. The cute button nose threw him off at first, but then he remembered George's mother, the lady with a button nose that reminded him of a mouse. George wasn’t very happy with the comparison when he had first heard of it. 

He stared at the girl’s eyes and drew in a sharp breath. The similarity was there. Those were his eyes. Green with a brown undertone. 

As he looked back at George, he could see the omega realising that he had already drawn the conclusion. At his questioning stare the male squirmed a bit inside his seat before nodding slowly. 

These were his kids.  _ His _ kids...

Why in heaven had he never heard of them? Why hadn’t the omega contacted him?!

“Hey,” 

He looked down and was surprised by the girl having snuck up to him. She looked up at him with doe brown eyes that just had to be George’s. Those were George's kids for sure and by her eyes and the boy’s features…and then George’s apologetic nod… by those these two were his as well. 

Clay's brain helped him calculate quickly, the two had to be around 9 years old and both twins. How had George hidden that from him? And why?

“Hey,” He croaked out and put on his best smile to impress the little girl. The best thing to do right now was to make a good first impression. 

“What’s your name?” the girl asked, and Clay looked over towards George. Should he go away? He didn’t want to, he knew he’d definitely search for them. He couldn’t let them know that he knew somewhat of the situation. But did George even want him here? Was he allowed to introduce himself?

George seemed to debate his answer before relaxing and nodding his head. The omega’s scent reached his nose, and he scurried to hold close his nose with his hands. He hadn’t smelt the others scent in years, he didn’t want to get overwhelmed inside a train. But the omega’s scent had already reached him and stood out to him like a speck of colour inside a white room. The sweet scent of shampoo and George’s neutral scent made him tear up. He quickly rubbed the tears away and bent down to meet the girl in front of him. 

“I’m Clay. And who are you?”

The girl squeezed more into his space and Clay didn’t even try to fight it. Something inside of him let the little kid have her way. She pulled on his trousers and he helped her up, a few people looked at them funny at that. Of course, it wasn’t every day that a clearly unmated alpha let a child on his lap. 

“I’m Elsa,” she declared and leaned into his touch where she nosed at his scent gland on his wrist before answering with the best matter-of-factly voice a 9 year old could bring up, ”and you smell funny.”

Clay nodded and grinned as Elsa stared pulling at his dog tag. She twisted in carefully inside her palm and pulled it up towards his eyes.

“That’s a weird necklace. What does it say?” 

He wrapped his hand around her small fingers and turned the tag towards him. The small engravings were familiar, it was the only thing he always had with him. Sleeping without it felt like committing a crime.

“It’s a dog tag.” A few heads turn towards him and he sees people sitting up straighter, some give him knowing smiles.

“It’s from the military. It’s a way of knowing who I am. It has my name, my gender, my status and my blood type on it. And on the back,”

He turned the shiny metal around and showed her the flipside.

"On the back it has a special number that shows you important data in case something happens.”

She drew up an eyebrow and crooked her head a little to the side. 

“Why isn’t everyone wearing it then? If it can help when something happens?”

“Well they do, just differently. Adults always carry cards with them where that information is on there just like on my necklace.”

“Why are you wearing it as a necklace then instead of a card?”

George winces at the question and from the corner of his eye he sees the omega move to most likely take Elsa. He shook his head quickly at the omega and went back to answering the question. The people around them had become silent, he knew that someone would question him about his service at some point. He had no PTSD from the war, but he had gotten panic attacks from the sounds of guns before. Such a question was nothing to worry about.

“Well in the army you can lose a card quickly. You know the army protects our land and from time to time other countries too, and when we are on duty we have to travel long ways. I could easily lose a card, and what do I do then? The necklace is a safer way.”

She accepted his answer and leans back onto his chest. He brushed through her hair as she rested her eyes. 

He finally met George’s eyes; the omega followed his motions with a look of longing he oh so well knows. George missed him and god he was lying if he didn’t admit he did too. 

Elsa stirred slowly and reached for his jacket sleeve to pull gently at the worn fabric.

“Want to come with us to the store? Papa promised that we would get to pick something to take with us.”

“Humans aren't one of those things,” George spoke up, but he said those words with a smile that gave Clay hope. He couldn’t care less about the weight of the backpack he’d have to carry around if he went with them, he’d do it immediately if George allowed it. 

“Do you even have time? You seemed busy before you noticed us.”

He met George's gaze again and shook his head. 

“No, no! It’s fine I was just pondering. I have time. Where are you going?”

“The shop at Westerburg Street. We need to get off at the next station if we want to get there.”

Clay simply nodded. There was so much that he wanted to ask but he knew that if he did he would only start a scene, and then the chance to talk to the omega again would be gone. He’d keep all the questions stored inside his mind; they’d talk about this in a more private matter. Clay wanted answers and he was never one to give up on something he wanted.

Those were his kids and they didn’t even know it. Why hadn’t George told them about him?! Was he not good enough? Didn’t he trust him? Did he fear Clay wouldn’t take responsibility and be a father? He had always tried to show that he was worthy. He had always worked hard to give George everything, but the omega had thrown it away in a single night. 

He shook his head and cleared his mind. No, this was not the right time to think about this while his attention should be on the present. He should focus on the two pups,  _ their _ pups. His and George’s. What an insane thought. A year ago- no, not even a few months ago he would have laughed at the thought with a bitter taste. 

The train announced they had arrived at the next stop and George stood up, ready to lead them outside. Clay waited for Elsa to hop off but as he tried to move the little girl grabbed his shirt tightly and shook her head. 

He huffed and tightened his hold on her as he stood up. She felt as light as a feather in his arms, he helped her crawl around his neck and sit up on his shoulders. And for the first time he was glad he participated in the tough military training. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave some love at the end please!  
> Comments and Kudos keep me going!


	3. Chapter 3: Dinner Time with a Stranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the new chapter! I'll post a halloween special also. But it wont be as long. (Unless i have to make it long then, but then i wont be able to post it today)  
> Please comment it keeps me going and really motivates me to write.  
> Oh and if you feel inspired by any of my storied feel free to just tag me! I always love seeing others get creative! Happy Halloween!

Clay carried his daughter into the grocery store of Westerburg Street with a sense of pride. He felt more motivated than ever to mingle inside the big masses of the public. He wanted to be seen and he wanted to show off his family image, but he had to control that wish for now. There was so much to talk about first. His children had to know about him before he could show the world, but telling them would need time, and George had to agree. 

George took out a small paper note from his jacket and read some of the listed items out loud. 

“I need some eggs, milk, cacao and,” The omega squinted his eyes at the next item and a big smile that was only broken by small giggles takes over his face, “Okay, who wrote chocolate on there?”

Clay felt Elsa stiffen for a second and he started to giggle a bit on his own. George playfully scolded them, only for them to giggle at him and he continued pushing the cart. 

They slowly worked their way through the store and stopped in front of a Halloween costume display. 

“Oh I almost forgot, you two need a Halloween costume. We’ll look on another day though,” George muttered and scanned the prices on the costume. Clay saw his gaze but stayed silent; He didn’t want to offer money. If he did, he could hurt the man’s feelings and that was the last thing he needed. 

George must have had a tough time trying to feed two children at the same time without a mate. He wondered how the other had even gotten so far. 

Matelessness was a touchy subject for people, and many still saw it as a big no-go to sleep with someone without being mated. These people still wanted every status to follow their original plan, first courting, next dating, marriage at the same time as mates, and then children. Most people were still mated before having children, so George's case was very touchy, but the public was slowly opening up to the idea of not needing to be mates. George must have had a hard time getting a job as a mate less omega getting closer to his 30’s. But as if that wasn’t enough, the two kids must have made it nearly impossible. 

The omegas were the ones who were burdened the most with today’s status judgment. After all, they always got the kids if a relationship didn’t work out. Sometimes that was good, but sometimes it meant the alpha got a free to go pass while the omega was strapped down. If George said no to Clay seeing these two, he would have to start a case with minimal success. Omegas always got the children unless it could be proven that the omega was unfit for parenthood, mentally or physically. 

But George didn’t seem like he had that at the front of his mind. He didn’t seem to mind Clay’s arrival; on the contrary, he looked a bit relieved. Clay helped Elsa down and told both to go and grab the milk. George smiled as the two kids ran a few feet to the milk stand and debated which one to grab. 

“George-” He started, but a hand landed on his shoulder. George looked up to him with heavy eyes and guilty expression as the omega stumbled to ask his next question.

“Before you say anything. I think I want us to talk about everything at home. Why don’t you come back with us and we have dinner together?”

Clay bit his lip in thought. Was this a good idea? Was he ready to even see George’s apartment? To see 9 years of memories of people he should have known but never did? And what about getting back to his own home? He had no car, so he had to take a train home. The last train was at 21:36 and they had 5 and a half hours left before he had to be at that train. 

George noticed his pause and took it as a no, leading the omega to draw back his hands and whisper a small sorry as he began to push the trolley forwards again. Clay cursed silently and hurried to follow the man.

“No, wait.” 

He grabbed George's shoulder and pulled him slightly back. 

“I want to have dinner with you guys. But is it okay if I leave at around 21:00? I don’t have a car yet, so I need to take that train at 21 home, or I’ll have to take a taxi.”

The omega’s expression changed into one of understanding and he visibly relaxed his shoulders as George nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s fine. I was worried you weren’t ready to meet that fast.”

The kids ran back at them with two different milk cartons and Georges just shrugged as they plopped them inside the trolley. 

The rest of the trip was spent getting to know the two kids more. Elsa had warmed up quickly to him, he had a feeling that the two’s instincts already knew who he was. His mother had told him once that when he was little, he was able to find her inside a tight crowd by simply scent and nature. 

His son took a bit longer to warm up. He was met with shy but curious gazes from afar. The boy’s personality reminded him of George back in college, shy and unapproachable ‘till Clay had wormed his way inside that shell. 

So he tried his best to mirror that behaviour, he left one arm extended down to give Lucas the option to hold his hand but not to pressure him. And as he picked Elsa up once more just in front of the cash register, he felt a hand grasp his very delicately. He looked down and smiled as he saw the round eyes of Lucas staring back up at him. 

The boy went red from being put on the spot, but Clay knew how to act. He put his attention back on George and used his free hand to help pick up the groceries into a bag. As they were done, George went to grab the bag, but Clay was faster. 

“You haven’t changed a bit with that at least,” The omega muttered in a happy tone and Clay smiled as they exited the store.

“Manners are important.”

They took a bus back to George’s place, and it didn't even take 10 minutes for the kids to fall asleep from the rocking motion of the bus. 

Clay had to give up the bag as they got off the bus to carry both kids. He was careful when he picked them up and steadied them on his hips. He tried his best to not ruffle his nose as he felt something wet run down his neck. Glancing down, he saw the young boy’s drool on his shirt. George chuckled at his facial impression and commented on it as he fiddled with the keys. 

“Ah the joy of fatherhood. I’m always glad to share it,” He teased and ushered Clay inside. 

The apartment was small, not that he had awaited a big suite in George's situation, but this was college dorm sized small, and barely enough for one, let alone  _ three _ . He kicked off his shoes as quietly as he could without his hands and followed George as the other closed the front door, towards the sofa. He put down the kids and George wrapped them into a wool blanket. 

Clay checked the time. They had 4 hours left to prepare dinner and talk. They stepped into the kitchen and closed the door to the living room to minimize the sound from their voices.

George put down the grocery bag on the kitchen counter and started putting away the newly bought foods.

The omegas posture revealed the tension in the atmosphere. Clay wanted to break it but he had no idea on how to start. Should he cut to the chase or dance around a bit and attempt some smalltalk. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.

“So why are you back? I mean, why now? I thought you only had 5 mandatory years,” The omega voiced, and closing the door to the fridge as he put away the milk cartons.

“I added 3 to get a job I could continue on later, and became a Cyper Security Officer and now I’m working with Inscie Corp.”

George turned to him with raised eyebrows and leaned back against the counter.

“You work with the Inscie Corp? The big building with the giant glass globus next to the big shopping centre?”

Clay smiled and nodded as George continued to stare at him baffled. 

“No fucking way.”

“Absolutely fucking way. I got in there easily with a three year experience and my diploma from the UniMillitary College.”

The omega’s mouth was hanging open in shock, Clay understood why. Inscie was a huge place to work at. 

“But wait, why did you do it last year then?” The omega questioned and moved to prepare dinner. 

He moved out of George’s way as the other collected his ingredients for a quick dinner. 

“I stayed at a private military owned apartment complex. They let you stay there for up to 3 years but I just wanted to leave as soon as possible. So I rang my family and told them I wanted to move back here. My sister helped me pick out an apartment and my parents packed my old stuff. I really didn’t do much besides pay the workers who moved my stuff. I had to drive every day from the apartment complex to Inscie Corp, that’s an hour and a half with the train. I was tired in the evening, so I really had no choice but to wait it out.”

“What? I never saw you; I always use the train,” George muttered and held a pack of carrots in front of him. “Cut them?”

He nodded and started cutting the carrots into bite sized sticks.

“I entered the train at 5:00 in the morning. On my way back I took different ones. But always after 16:00. I doubt you’d use the train ‘round these times. It's always filled with businessmen or travellers,” He finished and pushed the carrots into a small bowl. George put next to him a cucumber and he quickly went back to cutting. 

“I guess you're right.” The omega sighed. “I usually walk with the two to school. It’s better to keep them fit and the cold air is good to wake them up.”

Clay nodded and propped the slices of cucumber up in the bowl. He turned around to face Georges back and appreciated the new curves again. George had definitely gotten more filled out, did pregnancy do that? He bit his lip and shunned himself at his thoughts. 

The children are in the next room so get it together, Clay. He took a deep breath and let his eyes wander to the hand drawn pictures on the fridge. 

“What do you do? I mean, as a job. How were you able to support two kids and yourself?”

George shrugged his shoulders and cracked another egg into the pan in front of him. 

“When I found out about the pregnancy, I knew I was screwed. I had no time to major in computer science so I shanked that dream and investigated ways I could work from home. 

“Oh that’s interesting. How-” He hesitated a bit, uncomfortable with the question. “How did, y’know, the pregnancy. How did that go?”

George put the scrambled eggs into a ceramic dish and turned around to face Clay again. He had a sad look in his eyes and subconsciously brought his hand closer to his stomach. 

“I hated it sometimes and loved it the next day. It was confusing but in the end I was so glad I went through with it.” George's eyes welled up and Clay moved to touch his arm to keep him calm.

George continued after a big breath.

“I found out in a month after you went away. I was on my way to my next class with a classmate and they pulled out a sandwich. It had mayonnaise and tuna on it and the second I smelled it I vomited on to the floor. First, I thought I was sick and the nurse gave me a week off but then it got weird. I was constantly having dreams about you and before I knew it I woke up with your clothes surrounding me. You forgot some because they were still in the laundry room. I checked my calendar, but it couldn’t be my heat, I had that a week after you left. Horrible timing by the way, I was even angrier when I realised that,” He taunted with a smile and rubbed the tears threatening to escape away.

“Well I pieced two and two together and decided I should get a pregnancy test before making more choices. So I did that and it came back positive. I debated calling you for the rest of the day but didn’t have the balls to do it. So I kept it a secret and just went with it.”

Clay nodded and recited his hand slowly. 

“And what about now? Will you tell them?”

George bit his bottom lip and crossed his arms. 

“I want to tell them, but it needs to be the right time. You can’t just appear out of nowhere after 9 years. I don’t think they’d take that well. What if we take it slow and you start spending more time with them? We could make a schedule or something.”

Clay nodded and thought about his next question. Should he ask George if he’d be ready to try again? Was it too early? He didn’t feel like there were any malicious feelings between them. 

He wanted to go back to the days where he could always count on asking George about anything. He wanted that back. But if he wanted that back he’d have to ask.

“Uhm, and-”, Clay stood up straighter and pinched himself with his nail. 

“What about us? Do you think we could try to catch up with where we left off?”

George's eyes met his and a pink colour spread over his cheeks. 

“I want to try again. Just, maybe start slower than we did before? And if possible, avoid another surprise for the time being.”

Clay nodded in agreement and opened his arms. George tensed for a second before diving right in and snaking his arms around his torso.

“God, I missed this,” The omega whispered against his skin. He hummed and tightened his hold. George smelt fruitier up close, his hair smelled of artificial blueberry shampoo. 

He kissed the omega’s hair softly and rested his head on George's, only to look up at the electronic kitchen clock. They’d have to eat soon if they wanted to talk a bit more.

“We need to eat now if we still want to talk later.” 

George emitted a sound that sounded dangerously close to a whine before slowly separating himself. 

The omega opened a cabinet and pointed at the plates before reaching into a drawer and pulling out the cutlery. 

Clay understood and quickly reached up to grab the plates. He walked out of the kitchen and placed the plates down around the small square table. 

George followed with the cutlery and glasses and as the other laid down the things he looked up and motioned towards the living room.

“You can wake them up and get them if you want to. I’m almost ready. Just need to get the rest.”

Clay opened the door to the living room and tip toed over towards the two kids. The fact that they didn’t wake up from his presence confirmed his thoughts from earlier, they knew on a subconscious level who he was. 

He softly shook at their shoulders and grinned as groggy eyes looked up at him. 

“Wakey wakey, your pa is done with dinner.”

Elsa nodded and stretched before jumping down the sofa and running into the next room, presumably towards the dinner table.

Lucas looked ready to turn back and continue sleeping so Clay did the only acceptable thing. He picked up the little worm and chuckled when he heard the surprised gasp that turned into an excited smile.

“You can sleep later, now let’s go and grab a bite.”

Lucas giggled and pointed towards the door. 

“Onward my horse!” Clay grunted in surprise and tried his best to mimic a horse as he hoped through the door and reached up to drop Lucas on his seat. 

George shook his head as he saw his silly antics, but by the way the corners of the omega’s mouth were turned up, he knew he had done something right. 

He was fitting in. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a commetn and a kudo! Or if you want you can check out my twitter where you can see my "creative process" hahaha ;P


	4. Halloween Special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My beta hasnt read through this and I wrote it just now. Don't think this is good or anything. It was done in less than an hour while eating gummy bears (I get terrible sick from thsoe bastards why did i eat them)  
> Enjoy this extra for halloween lol. It takes place in the futute and is NOT AN ADDITIONAL CHAPTER!  
> Sorry for the caps, I want to make sure that ppl who skip the notes see this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS A SPECIAL EXTRA NOT A CHAPTER

Clay squirmed in his costume a bit, but he didn't dare to move anything that could mess it up. He looked down at himself in the mirror and tried his best not to wince at the image of his groin the olive-green leggings portrayed. He let his eyes wander up and laughed at the stupid polyester costume shirt of Peter Pan.

He really had hoped that Lucas would want to be Peter Pan, but the little guy found it just as stupid as Clay did. And now here he was dressed in green tights and a green tunic with a stupidly small hat that had a little feather sticking out at the very top. Just to please his family.

He sighed and stepped out of the bathroom and put on a smile for the children as he walked back into the living room. His family sat around the living room in different positions, George was kneeling in front of Elsa and putting on the girl’s makeup. The omega had stayed up and looked at ideas on Pinterest all day the evening before.

Luca was on the sofa and watching a cartoon contently. He was dressed in his Captain hook costume, but his face wasn’t painted yet.

"Ready for neverland?", he jested, and George chuckled slightly as the omega continued applying the glitter to their 9-year-old daughter.

“I think we are almost ready. Just need to finish the makeup.”

"Daddy how do I look?", his daughter questioned and tiled her head towards him while she ducked as George tried to put on some more paint onto her.

She fled the omegas hands and jumped up to Clay, pulling at his stupidly tight leggings. He smiled down and reached for her to quickly place her on his hips.

"You look like a little princess or should I say fairy? You look lovely."

She nodded her head and reached towards the little wings on her back.

"Look they move!", she flicked her finger and the wings swayed back in forth a bit before stopping.

He nodded along and smiled as if her findings were of the most surprising type. As he looked back to the other, he noticed that Lucas was focusing more on the tv then on George. He reached down to pick up the remote and turned off the show.

Georg send him a thankful glance before moving back to styling Lucas. He had started to apply some black paint to signify the eye patch.

"Lucas where is your sword?", George questioned.

"In the kitchen I think.", the boy answered and squirmed as the paint brush tickled him.

"I told you not to play with it. We don't have much time before we have to go, I won’t search for it.", George groaned in annoyance and squinted at his phone to compare the makeup on the Captain Hook from Pinterest.

Lucas huffed and turned to Clay with the biggest puppy eyes he could.

"Will you get it?", and there Clay was stumbling with Elsa on his hips to get into the kitchen and find that damn sword. When had he gotten so soft?

Elsa giggles at his sudden movement and clutched his shirt to stay afoot.

“I think he left it on his chair.”, she suggested, and he went to check.

And right there the plastic sword laid. He picked it up and walked back into the room to see that George had finished with his little makeover session.

“Here, don’t lose it again.”

Lucas stood up and wrapped himself around his leg while giggling, the sword laid on the couch already forgotten, and Clay sighed. He looked up at George and motioned towards the bathroom.

“You can get yourself ready I can entertain them for a while.”

George headed off and Clay turned on the tv again. He opened their Netflix account and scrolled through the Halloween Section before he chose a random Halloween children movie.

He propped himself down on the couch and opened his arm up to both sides. Before he could say another word the two pups bounced into his arms and snuggled closer.

He checked the clock and noticed that they had half an hour before they could go.

“We won’t be able to finish the movie but maybe we could finish it tomorrow.”

Lucas nodded at his words, but Elsa was focused on the movie and blended his words out.

They got far enough in the movie to see the character find a solution for the problem but then George emerged from the Bathroom.

And well Dream had to do a double take when he looked over his shoulder. He had known that George would dress up as another Peter Pan character, but as Wendy? He had not expected that! George had swapped out the blue nightgown for a blue shirt that matched his own in some ways. The omega however wasn’t wearing embarrassing tights but rather a wide legged pant that had ruffles at his ankles. It looked like an old fashioned pj’s.

“Darling, eh?”, Clay joked, and George flushed a bit

“Oh, shut it. My other option was a mermaid or part of Hooks crew. We would have missed an important character, so someone had to stand up for the role.”

Clay nodded and smiled; George did look cute in the weird pyjama like costume, but he supposed that his omega would look good in anything.

At 20:00 they finally left the house and went out on the streets. The kids had their little pumpkin buckets and were running up and down the houses while George and Dream stayed back to watch over them from not too far away.

“So, do you like it?”, George questioned and swinged their hands a bit as they walked a bit faster to catch up to their kids.

“It’s nice. I thought it would be more hectic or anything but it’s kind of like taking a late-night walk with you and the kids.”

George chuckled a bit and he raised his eyebrow in question.

“What?”

“Oh, just you wait. They haven’t eaten any of that candy yet. In an hour, the scene will change.”

“Why would it change?”, Clay asked with confusion and curiosity carrying his voice. The kids were having a great day, he doubted it would go wrong.

And boy did it go wrong.

It didn’t take an hour for it to change. At some point the kids had started eating the collected candy while trick or treating. He understood what George had meant now.

The kids had started getting snappy and cranky. And Clay? He wasn’t having the best time anymore.

He had two kids that were ready for bed but were high on sugar and fighting the sleepiness as best as they could. The high on sugar made them jittery, he couldn’t stop to notice the jumping motion of Luca. The boy kept jumping over the cracks in the sidewalk while counting down a little rhyme they must have learned in school about Halloween.

Clay sighed and grunted in annoyance as he heard George chuckle at his despair right next to him.

“Not as fun anymore, or?”

He didn’t want to admit it but the omega had been right. The kids could be hard. He had no idea that a little bit of sugar could get them this pitched up.

“I just hope we can get them to sleep tonight.”, he mumbled.

George intervened their fingers again and smiled up at him sweetly. The omegas cheeks were rosy from the cold air, the nightgown costume didn’t seem to keep him warm much.

“Don’t worry, I have a secret recipe for that already.”

The recipe turned out to be simply hot milk. And luckily it worked, he was happy o have learned more about being a parent. Even if the day had been eventful and he had almost lost his nerves at one point he was glad to have George on his side, ready to conquer all those hardships with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please for the love of god comment. I see that many of you are reading and bookmarking it but not commenting...  
> Kudos are fine too just please any type of feedback!


	5. Not much of a stranger anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner is ready and the kids are curious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey my poor beta reader is dealing with a lot alot, if anyone wants to help out contact me on twitter!
> 
> @Kassyseptic   
> <3

Dinner was anything else but quiet. The kids kept talking over each other and asking holes into Clay. The alpha was glad to answer them all but sometimes he had to cushion the truth with a few lies so as to not slip up and spill their secret before the time was right. It was starting to get tiring but he tried his best to keep them entertained. 

“So you are like a solider and a secret agent?!”, Lucas questioned with excitement in his voice after Clay had finished explaining his job. Clay bit his lip as to not laugh and shook his head.

“No not exactly. I was a soldier but now I’m working as a person that protects against hackers.” Clay tried to explain and took a sip from his drink. George and he were already done with eating, but the kids were still messily switching between talking, eating and drinking. 

“So you are a hacker protecting against hackers! That’s like a double hacker!”, Elsa exclaimed, and Clay shrugged his shoulders. It was close enough to what his actual job included. 

“Yes, kind of.”

Luca finished his toast and opened his mouth to ask the next question, but was interrupted by George.

“Hey, finish your food first.”

Luca groaned but complied and started chewing on the rest of his veggies.

“So what do you two want to become when you're older?”, Clay questioned and leaned back in his seat.

Elsa was the first to answer and started telling him excitedly about her plans.

“I want to become a lawyer and help people like papas friend!”

Clay looked at George with the question in his eyes but the omega shook his head as if to say: 

“We’ll talk about it later, not now.”

He decided to ignore the obvious question and moved on to ask Lucas about his 

The yawns kept adding up and George finally ushered them up.

“Okay you guys are too tired to stay up. Brush your teeth and put on the pjs its bed time!”

“But pa! That’s so unfair you promised we get to stay up longer if friends are over.”

George quirked his eyebrow upwards and Elsa’s mouth shut quickly.

“That meant your friends, Clay is my friend, and we want to have some time together too. I promise you’ll see him again.”

Elsa had that angry look in her eyes that only kids could produce but she didn’t say anything and just huffed as she stomped towards her room to change.

“You promise you’ll be back?”

George turned his head towards the noise and cooed slightly at the cute image. Lucas was still cuddled up under Clay’s right arm. 

“I promise it, pinky promise?”, Clay reached over with his other arm and held out his little pinky finger. Lucas quickly shook it and wriggled himself out of the embrace to stand up.

“Promise that you will visit us before Halloween?” Lucas asked with a stern face.

Clay shook their pinkies together as he answered the question.

“I pinky promise I’ll visit before Halloween passes.”

Lucas seemed to accept that as he turned around and followed his sister.

“They’re cute.”, Clay started, and George shrugged.

“Yeah. Just you wait. They’re cute right now but wait 20 more minutes and they turn into small terror monsters. If they become cranky it’s the worst.”

“I still think they’re cute.”

George hummed and pushed himself up from the couch. 

“I’ll go check on them now. I don’t want them to goof around too much. I’d offer to let you read them a bedtime story but that will get them too excited. Maybe next time? If you want you can put away the dishes?”

“Yeah, sure.”

George smiled and followed the giggles into the bathroom. Lucas and Elsa were dressed in their pjs while scrubbing their teeth in a competitive race. The little mickey mouse hourglass was left ignored as the two struggled to brush faster as the other. 

“Hey, didn’t we talk about this before? Your gums will start bleeding!”, George lectured. Four eyes met his own in the mirror but continued to scrub as fast as they could. George sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he turned around and turned on the light in the kids room. He was greeted by the usual mess of toys all over the floor and socks in the most unusual places. 

He kicked a small path with his feet and winced as he stepped on something that felt dangerously like a small Lego piece. 

The bunk bed was hastily made and looked just like they had left it in the morning. He could see that Lucas had at least tried to fold his blanket a bit and he appreciated the gesture at least. 

He climbed up the few steps of the latter to fluff up Elsa’s pillow and tucked her sheets under the mattress. He didn’t bother with the blanket as he knew it would just be scrunched up in a few seconds. 

He repeated the same steps with Lucas bedside as he heard the water in the bathroom being quickly turned on and off. He laid the pillow back down and turned on the two little night lamps on the wall. 

Clay would love the decoration too, the two lamps were two diamond ore blocks that hung on the wall close to the kids feet. He had another light lamp installed at the door to help the kids navigate in the dark in case they had to go onto the toilet. 

The children’s bed sheets were sadly not Minecraft themed. The kids had chosen them on their own, Lucas had picked out a Shrek themed cover. Which meant that George was left with a close up of the ogres face every time he brought the two to bed. But Elsa’s pick wasn’t better, fitting to her name she had picked a frozen themed one, luckily she had left her frozen phase a bit behind but the bed sheets were a constant reminder to the times she’d wake him by singing ‘Let it go’ at the top of her lungs. 

His thoughts were interrupted by the kids jumping into the room while arguing about who picked the bed time story. 

Maybe he should have brought Clay along, to show him the other side of the two kids.

“You chose last time! I want a princess story!”

“No, those are boring! I don’t wanna hear about princesses!”

“I can’t hear you! Lalalalala!”, Elsa sang, and George groaned at the shrill voice. 

“Stop!”, he hollered and he two faces quickly turned to him while stopping their next shrieks of words.

“If you two don’t quiet down right now there won’t be a bedtime story. Either you decide now on a story, or I pick!”

Without a verbal answer he pointed towards the bed and reached up to the small shelf to pick out a story. He wanted something short that didn’t take much time, he wanted to have enough time to talk with Clay so he picked out a random short story.

“Once upon a time…”, he started reading and continued. As he read the story the two got quieter and quieter till they eventually stopped moving and fell asleep. He hadn’t reached the stories ending so he talked just a minute longer to make sure they were asleep before he stood up and quietly tiptoed around the room to leave. As he closed the door he passed the bathroom and checked that their toothbrushes were neatly stacked away. 

He entered back into the kitchen and smiled as he saw Clay finish cleaning up the area.

“It would have been enough to just put it in the dishwasher and let me do the rest but thank you.”

Clay turned around in surprise and rubbed his neck slowly as he shrugged slightly.

“I wanted to help you a bit. I saw how much you had to do today and thought I could take some of that weight of you by just helping you have a nice evening.”

George nodded and took another towel to help with the drying off. 

“Oh wait,”, George interrupted and pulled out his phone from his back pocket, „can you put in your new number? I want to have some way of con-“But before he could finish Clay had already taken the phone and started typing.

“You don’t need to explain yourself to me. Of course, you can have my number”

George smiled and took back his phone. On the image the new contact was displayed as ‘Dream :)’ the old chatroom nickname of Clay.

“So, I want to hear it from you again. Like a verbal answer. Those two, they’re my kids?”

George took in a deep breath and nodded. He put the phone away and picked up the towel.

“Yes. Lucas and Elsa are your pups too.”, from his answer he hears Clay take in a sharp breath but they stay silent and continue drying the dishes. 

“This reminds me of college.”

“What why?”

“I guess it’s just you are this close. I mean we haven’t been together in what, 9 years?”

“Yeah,”, George let his thoughts drift off a bit. He could not believe that 9 years had passed already. He had spent the last 9 years wondering if he was doing this whole parent thing right, wondering if he was ready to tell Clay or if it was better to just move on. “it’s crazy.”

“I agree. Not as crazy as the last time we saw each other, eh?”, Clay said and chuckled. 

George didn’t chuckle. He cringed at the thought of their last meeting, at his own words and at his screaming. He had thrown around everything that was close enough just to show his anger. 

“Yeah.”, he whispers and chuckles a bit to hide his thoughts. But of course, Clay notices and stops his motion and turns around. 

“Hey what’s wrong?”, the blonde asks, and George tried his hardest to hold in his tears. But Clay's caring facial expression and gentle tone broke his damn and he let go of the towel to hide his face behind his palms.

“I’m sorry”, he admits and repeats the phrase. “I’m so so sorry. I should have said all those things and I definitely shouldn’t have hidden the kids. I know that I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“Oh no no no,”, Clay reached out for him and pulled him closer,” calm down it’s in the past.”

George shook his head:

“No, I should have contacted you years ago. I tried, I promise! I wrote letters but they always sounded wrong! I tried with phone calls, but you never picked up and after sometime it wouldn’t ring at all. I thought you had possibly blocked me…”, George slowly pulled his hands away from his face and looked up at Clay.

“Hey Gorge calm down, you’re panicking. The smell will wake up the kids. Hush.”, Clay tried but George shook his head. He took a step back and regretted it as he left the warmth of Clays closure.

He took in a sharp breath and wrapped his arm around himself to calm down.

“I thought about calling your parents, but I was sure they’d not even let me talk. Remember how they disliked me in college? They didn’t like our relationship too much or well rather how fast it was moving and I think showing them the kids would have made it worse.”

“What? No! Trust me they loved you. I hated college with a passion, I wanted to drop out and just work but when we got together I wanted to stay and keep going. You were the reason I stayed in college. I wanted to provide for you and I knew I had to get a good paying job if I wanted to do that. They loved you for that.”

George sniffled and nodded as the other moved to comfort him. 

"Better?”, Clay questioned and rubbed his sides a bit. “Don't worry. It's going to be fine. I'm not angry. I'm just.... I don't know. Shocked and Surprised still? I wanted this for so long and it was right under my nose. Why didn't you abort if you didn't wan-" 

George had to double take at the words and pushed Clay from him. His hand moved faster than ever and he slapped Clay. He looks at the red hand mark with surprise but he can't find the strength to say sorry. 

"Don't ever say that again. I would never ever have gotten rid of them. They weren't a mistake and, god, one dumb fight was never enough to make me stop loving you. What did you think? That I'd forget 3 years of us planning for a home all just because of a fight?" 

Clay himself stands up straighter and Georges own posture moves into one of defence. 

"No...but you knew you'd be alone. I left you. I had no chance of coming back. But I could have been here already. I could have been here 4 years already. If only you'd have contacted me. Why didn't you try Nick? You know I would have loved pups!"

"I couldn't contact Nick. I hadn't talked with him in years. The first time I have seen him again was last month with the kids. He recognized them immediately almost faster than you even. He was so angry at first, but I had to make him promise not to tell you. But I would have told you. Nick made me promise to tell you in the next 3 months or he was going to."

"Would you have told me without him?" Clay asked and his voice is quieter than before. 

George looked up and continued with a stern voice that showed his sincerity: 

"Yes! I wouldn't have hidden this if I could have called you. I can show you! I haven't changed my phone number. It's the same. I have every call I made on there."

"This is crazy. I can't believe that I missed 9 years of their lives. I missed so much...", Clay sighed and turned his head to look up at the light.

"You don't have to miss anymore.", George answered before he thought about the meaning behind the words. He wanted Clay back but he doesn’t want to push the other too much in fear that he will leave.

"Promise? I want to try again, I want to try being a dad and I want to try....I want to try us again. I know I made a huge mistake bu-"

"Hey. I made one too. It's okay. I think we can sort that out another time. And I do want to try again..."

George falls forward into Clays arms and he hides his face in the muscular chest. 

"You changed so goddamn much. But your scent didn't. I smelt you even before you got on the train."

There is a small thud sound behind them and as they turn around George lets go an audible gasp ashis hand flies to cover his mouth. Elsa is standing in between the door with her little muffin plushie laying on the ground.

Her eyes are wide, too wide for her to have just woken up and her hair is tossed into different directions. She stares at Clay with the biggest question in her eyes a 9-year-old could have. 

"You're my dad?", she asks and looks the alpha up and down in surprise. 

George hears the alpha mutter something under his breath that sounds dangerously close to a curse and he draws in a sharp breath. 

Damage control was now important. They had to stop her from crying before she woke up Lucas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment and some kudos! They kinda decide how fast i post the next chapter <3
> 
> Want to talk with me? Or help out and beta read?  
> @Kassyseptic <\- dm me on there <3


	6. Talking it out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk about what happened.

Clay wasn’t sure about this; how should he handle this reaction? With comfort? Should he explain or was it George's task? He decided his best bet was on his instinct. George knew her better and would be better at calming the pup down. 

Too bad that the pup didn’t want that. George's open arms were met with an angry throw of the brown muffin plushie hitting the omegas chest and bouncing back off towards the carpeted ground. 

The little girl stared at the omega with a scarlet sparkle in her eyes and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the next part. He could see a temper tantrum forming from miles away, his little sister had helped him figure that much out. Clay reached out and started hushing apologies to Elsa. 

If she threw a tantrum about this they were screwed, it was the middle of the night and Lucas would definitely hear the noise. 

“I know this is a lot but please stop crying. We can’t bear to see you cry like this.”, the girls eyes shot to him and she stepped forwards closer to him. 

He was unsure of what to do and peeked over to George, the omega was still left in shock. His formerly inviting arms were drawn back to his side and he looked downwards at the muffin plush in a state akin to fear. 

He looked back to Elsa and opened his arm a bit more, was she only angry at George? 

Elsa took another step forward, her first clenched a bit as if she was deciding between hitting him or falling into his arms. The latter one won and with the next step she leaped into his chest and hugged him like her life depended on it. 

He couldn’t lie, the feeling of a child trusting you and having them in their arms like this was very rewarding. His thoughts changed into lightheaded ones and he felt like he was finally doing something completely right. 

“You’re my dad!” Elsa mumbled against his chest and hit her nose in his shirt’s fabric. 

He curled around his pup and rocked them a bit to calm the oncoming sobs. 

Elsa’s little body shook, and he mirrored the things he had seen mothers do on tv.

“Shhhh”, he hummed and tried his best to start purring to calm her, when was the last time he had purred for someone, maybe with George? God who knew, the rumbles inside his throat and chest sounded a bit rusty but they worked as Elsa put her ears closer to the sound and took deeper breaths as her silent tears fell down her cheeks and soaked his shirt. 

“You’re my dad!”, she exclaimed again and rubbed her forehead against his chest as if to shake away a bad headache. He nodded at her words and didn’t dare to interrupt his rumbles. 

Elsa was an unpresented child which meant that the scent she carried was a mix of the scented around her, she smelled mostly like George but from his angle he could smell the cheap blueberry scent children’s shampoos carried. 

“We were planning on telling you soon.”, George uttered carefully. As Clay turned his head, he saw the omegas hand reaching for Elsa but slowly drawing it back as if trying to pet a scared deer. 

“But you knew! You knew about it! Why did you never tell us anything! I just thought something had happened to our dad! I thought he was up in heaven with the angels like Lisa’s mommy!”, Elsa bellowed and whipped her head to George. 

Her cheeks were red in anger and the tear stains had left visible marks on the skin, small red irritated patches, and a messy snotty nose. A quick look down confirmed the snot and Clay had to interrupt his purr to wince and pull back slightly.

“I couldn’t tell you because it is grown up stuff!”

“You’re a liar! He definitely likes us so why didn’t you tell us!”

“Elsa you are too young you don’t understand!”, George started and Clay flinched from the raised voice. He pushed Elsa fully off his lap and pushed himself between the two.

“Quiet down! Both of you. We can talk about this without waking Lucas.”

“Hmmpf!”, both turned away from him and out their noses upwards. Clay rolled his eyes at the dramatics but on the inside, he was giggling. No way would he have thought that George would stay childish and even pass his small flair for the dramatic onto the next generation. 

“How about a nice talk in the living room!”, Clay interrupted and pushed himself up. The little girl was quick to follow and mirrored his actions. 

They sat down on the sofa and Elsa was quick to take the left side of the couch, but Clay ushered her into the middle. 

“So where do we start? Maybe do you have a question first, Elsa?”, Clay started. 

Elsa stared down on her feet as she wriggler her toes a bit and thought about it. 

“I don’t know, just why aren’t you always here?”

“Remember about my duty as a soldier? I couldn’t just leave it, once you say yes to the military you can’t just leave- “

“It’s fine, Clay. Tell her.”, George interrupted quietly seemingly drawn back in his own thoughts.

“Alright”, he began. “You see, your papa and I had a big fight, and we didn’t know about the pregnancy around that time. We fought a whole night and, on that night, I packed my stuff and left him, we didn’t talk again after that and so I never knew about you.”

Elsa seemed to want to ask something, but her mouth closed again, she looked back up at him and asked him with the most serious tone a 9-year-old could manage:

“Will you leave again, now?”

“No, I don’t plan to unless…”, he looked at George and at the confirmative nod he continued, “I plan to stay forever now. You’re definitely not getting rid of me.”

Her corners of the mouth moved up a bit, but she didn’t smile. Her face was still red, especially around the cheeks and he could feel the anger inside of her still steaming hot. 

“Papa, why did you lie?” Elsa asked, but this time her voice was softer and more hurt. 

George looked up and blinked as if he was waking up and played with his shirt while answering. 

“I didn’t know how to start, honey. What could I have told you that would have made it better? If I would have straight up told you, you would have wanted to see him, but Clay didn’t have any idea about you so it would have been awkward for us to just show up. It just never was the right time...”

“But if it would have been awkward why did it work just fine now!”

“Oh honey, we really just met today again, I promise it wasn’t planned out. I never tried to hide you from him and when he saw you, he just knew.”

“How? He hadn’t seen us at all!”, Elsa argued.

George sighed and stood up, he walked over to a bookshelf and opened a book that revealed to have a small safe inside of it. He opened it and pulled out a small stack of pictures, as George got closer, he started to recognize the first photo.

“You kept our photos!”, he gasped and reached out for them but George put them down on the small coffee table. One by one he placed them until there wasn’t enough room for more and he had to put the rest down on a pile for now. 

“Those are pictures of me and your dad. Some are even from before we met. The ones where your dad is younger are from a friend.”

George slung an arm around Elsa and pointed at a photo of Clay’s younger version. 

“That is you dad, see the similarity to someone?”

Elsa reached for the photograph that had the weird colours only a 90’s camera could print and held it up next to Clay’s face.

“He looks so much like Lukas!”

“Exactly, that’s how he knew. They look so similar. The eyes are the only thing that you can really tell apart. Look how blue they were.”

Elsa put the photo down and leaned over the table to look at more. 

Clay could see a few pictures from his childhood that only Nick could have had, him at the zoo with his parents, a birthday party with friends, him and Nick at a Lan-Party and many more. There were more recent ones from his college days, and they were mostly filled with George and him. 

The very first week when he met George, at that time George was still taking photos like a tourist, most shots seemed to be of pretty building or structure, but Clay was sneaked into the shot. He could see the sneaky shots multiplying and getting over to where at some pints George had just started taking photos of him. 

Then there were photos with old mutual friends. Alexis, the omega George couldn’t stand for a long time, then Darryl, a nice beta they had befriended pretty quickly but Clay had lost contact with ages ago. Nick, his best friend, was in many of these shots too, and even Schlatt was one some of them. 

Schlatt and him hadn’t always agreed but he really wondered what that man was doing now. 

“I haven’t seen those people in ages.”, he muttered and George gave him a sad smile in return. 

Elsa held up another picture, one of the ones George had taken secretly at the start of them getting to know each other and mustered it carefully. 

“You look bigger now! You have gotten stronger! Like superman!”

He chuckles and pretends to flex his arm to impress her. 

“That was my goal all along, to become like Superman! But you can’t tell anyone!”, he jested and poked her softly between the ribcages. She left out a small yelp and chuckled, her anger had cooled down and she looked more happier now. 

His eyes wandered around the room but were caught on the clock.

“Oh sh- shoot! I need to go!”, he jumped up and looked back at the two.

“I’m sorry but I really need to catch this train, call me if you need me. That means you too, Elsa. Don’t be shy. I will hurry up now.”

“Wait!”, George whisper-yelled and jumped up. “Let me bring you down the station at least!”

But Clay shook his head as he shrugged on his jacket. 

“It’s fine. Elsa needs you right now. Call me if you need me.”

George sighed but opened the door for him as Elsa’s feet quickly darted around the corner into the floor to stop Clay.

“Will I see you tomorrow?”, she asked, and George almost wanted to tell her to let Clay go but he couldn’t. 

Clay had the same problem and kneeled to her level.

“I pinkie swear I will be here tomorrow, little mouse. Now I gotta go though so see you tomorrow. I wish you both a good night and some good dreams.”, he ruffled her hair before leaving a quick peck on her hair and sprinting down the staircase. 

George couldn’t utter another word as he heard the apartment building complex door open and close in a hurry. 

He sighed and held out his hand carefully for Elsa. This would be a long night.

George locked the door after Clay left and returned with Elsa to the living room. He made a quick departure into the kitchen and started heating up some milk for a quick hot chocolate.

He thought about his next actions and about the small heart to heart talk they had had. Was it enough? Should he have tried more? Was Lucas going to react the same way? 

He sighed and stirred in the cocoa power with the sugar and filled the drink into two big cups. One was Elsa’s usual frozen mug and the other was his own with a boring stripe pattern. 

He smiled back at Olaf and returned to the living room where he carefully put down the mugs. 

“Carefully it’s still hot.”, he explained and got more comfortable on the sofa.

“Papa will Clay move in with us?”

George had to cough from the spit he accidentally swallowed too quickly. 

“What? No, no! Not yet at least.”

“But all lovers move together, it’s just like the fairy tales.”, Elsa said and picked up another photograph to inspect it. 

“Your dad and me aren’t together right now.”

Elsa dropped the picture and scrunched her eyebrows.

“But why? You aren’t still fighting, or?”

“Well no, but we need time. You can’t just start a relationship after not having seen the other in years. Love takes time.”

“Adults are dumb.”, Elsa huffed and turned back to the pictures. George smiled and leaned back knowing full well that he was forgiven in her books.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is the chapter length okay? It's shorter than usual. Oh and please leave some kudos and comments! Even if it's just a short "can't wait for the next part" i'm happy.   
> Also readers that read this without an account: you can still kudo it! It's free and it's free clout for me!


	7. Moving in at home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 4000 words! I promised a longer chapter and here it is! I hope you guys like it! And yeah, he didn't meet the parents yet he will meet them next chapter, I had to set the scene first and tell you more about the new home. 
> 
> Also some of you are finding my hints.... there is a new one in thsi chapter... good luck :)  
> btw some events that are going to happen in the future aren't in the tags yet. I update the tags as we go on just to not spoil anything.   
> And no beta reader here, we die like man! I didn't beta read this so sorry hahaha

Clay took in a deep breath of the cold nightly air. The central station of Bormin looked almost the same as it did 9 years ago, the pavement was in the form of small cubes who felt horrid to walk on in flat thin soled shoes but even worse in high heels. He remembered his mother complaining about those same stones every day she picked him up from this place. The lamps illuminating the station were still in the same style, but some looked newer, and the former deserted pizza place was now filled with an Arabian shop. There were only minor differences, the small bus stops now had screens playing ads seemingly all throughout the night.

The scent of roasted sugar coated almonds laid in the air from a nearby corner shop, he debated buying a pack and taking them to his new home but as he looked at the station's big clock, he shook his head in silence. If he wanted to get some sleep this evening, he would have to start walking. His feet were hurting, and he cursed the thin soled black leather shoes he had chosen for this very day.

If he would have known that he would take a quick departure to George, or any other friend for that matter, he would have worn more comfortable footing. Looking down at his clothes he could conclude what every passer-by must have seen. There were some patches of white drool on his chest he could thank Elsa for, some faint outlines of wrinkles here and there and a small spot of where a piece of egg from dinner had fallen on his pant leg and left a small speck of oil.

His last clothes were now ruined and certainly not usable for the next day. Wasn’t a family lovely?

He had no other option; this would have to do for tomorrow. Looking up at the clock again he cursed the big pointers on the clock for not moving backwards in time. Just one hour and he would have been able to enter some quick fashions store and buy a quick set of clothes.

He inhaled the sweet scent of sugary almonds once more before taking out his phone and typing in the location into his phone, he knew the city but not having been here in 9 years made him unsure. He wanted to arrive sooner rather than later.

_ 15 minutes on foot _ , the little navigation app told him.

He groaned loudly, attracting resulting in stares from the people scattered around the station, but he didn’t mind them. He felt his stomach grumble at the sweet tempting scent of food in the night, but he ignored it and started his journey back home.

As he arrived in front of the house, he had so far seen only on his phone's 6 inch screen. The little pathway to the front door was adorned by a small stone garden with different succulents growing all around. The different coloured stones made it look rather elegant.

He looked around before kneeling and slipping his hands under the single decoration adoring the front steps, a plant in a white flower pot. He reached underneath the flowerpot and pulled out the singular key for the front door.

_ Just as his sister had promised. _

He fumbled with the key a bit as he tried to find the keyhole in the dark of the night. A clicking noise and a small twist and he was inside of his brand-new home.

He stepped inside and closed the door before trying to find the light switch. He slapped the whole in different places to hit the light switch but didn’t find one. He sighed and pulled out his phone to turn on the flashlight.

With the help of the additional light he found the witch and illuminated the floor in bright white light.

Bigger than it seemed on his display, that was his first thought. The floor was all dark wood plank that shone as if polished with oil, he whistled in surprise of the clean look and bowed down to take of his shoes. He put them on a small shoe shelf that looked barren without any additional shoes.

Eerily lonely, he subsided and slowly walked through the floor into an open area living room.

The living room was connected to an open kitchen area with a familiar stone counter he had seen his sister sit at on multiple of their calls. He let his eyes travel over the room and took in the loneliness. He could see that his little sister had tried her best to liven up the place but one just couldn’t when no one was living there. The sofa looked anything but inviting with it’s dark cold leather, there was no tv either and the concerning amount of pictures missing all around made it almost feel creepy.

He walked further and checked out the kitchen.

A small “Bingo.” Was uttered as he found one of these cheap coffee machines that brew you a cup rather quickly. He opened a few cupboards and found the capsules, he put in a cappuccino and turned on the machine. The background sounds of the machine gurgling made him feel slightly better.

His backpack was getting heavy, so he decided to find his bedroom and put it down. It wasn’t hard to spot the door to his personal room, his sister had hung up the old sign he used to have in front of his room at their parents’ home.

“No girls allowed! That means you, Drista!” stood on their in-foam letters on grey cardboard surfaces. He chuckled at the sign but didn’t take it off.

As he opened the door he was met with a much more friendly looking room. Boxes were all over the room all of them filled and next to some were piles of folded empty carboard boxes.

His old bed from his teenage days stood in the middle, a king-sized bed with dark blue covers that seemed rather new. He couldn’t remember a time where he earned bed sheets that weren’t video game themed in his childhood.

He let his backpack fall onto the floor and flared out his arms as he let himself fall onto the bed, face first.

The mattress bounced him up a few times, but he stayed with his head buried in the comfortable soft fabric.

He flopped around and started pulling off his clothes. He was happy to get out of them after having travelled over 24 hours in them.

He got to his boxers and debated taking a shower but looking at his phone’s clock he decided to leave that for tomorrow morning.

The gurgling of the coffee machine got louder and he interpreted it as a call for him to get up.

He pushed himself upwards and went to grab his steaming mug. The coffeemaker was indeed finished, as he took a sip from the hot liquid he relaxed against the counter.

The heat from the coffee warmed him up a ton. He probably should turn off the heaters before going to sleep. He opened his eyes as an idea crossed his mind, or rather a memory.

“Ok Google, turn the heating on!”, he bellowed out into the lonely room and somewhere in the living room a sound indicated that he was right.

His sister had installed him a small smart home system, it wasn’t complete, but she had talked about connecting some lights and the ac to it.

As he finished his cup, he got tired and decided to open his phone one last time before going to sleep.

He sent a short text to George, letting the omega know that he had arrived safely at home and was going to bed.

_ ‘Wish Elsa a good night too if she’s still awake. _ ’ He added and hit send.

It didn’t take more than a minute before his text notification sound played and he checked his phone.

_ ‘I put her to bed ten minutes after you left. We ended the day with hot chocolate and talking about the pictures. At some point she started snoring and I carried her to bed. I was just waiting for you to text before going to sleep.’ _

He smiled at Georges worries and made sure to let the other know he was fine.

_ ‘That’s good. Go to sleep now then. I’m fine, the new home is really nice. I got a lot of stuff I need to unpack though so that might take up a lot of time. _

_ Sleep well!’ _

He put the cup down in the sink and went back to his bed. The room had gotten warmer and he slipped under the covers satisfied with his day.

Another notification tune made him look up once more and see that George had messaged him again. As he saw the message he smiled.

‘No “I love you?” and no “xxx”? Who are you and what have you done to my Clay!’

He turned towards his screen and typed his answer. He remembered texting like this all the time with George but it felt weird to do so now. He thought he would never see the day where George would demand those small text messages, the omega had always refused to acknowledge the sappy messages.

‘I remember you complaining about them for days!’

His phone buzzed.

_ ‘Doesn’t mean I don’t want them. I like the complaining part, but you don’t get to take those away from me just because I complain about them.’ _

_ ‘So, demanding! And no. You need to earn them.’ _

_ ‘What was that about me being your little pillow princess and getting everything, I ask for?’ _

_ ‘Now you’re just making it worse.’ _

_ ‘Say it!’ _

_ ‘Next time.’ _

_ ‘Okay, then let’s turn this around. Love you, night! Dream of me.’ _

_ ‘You’re stupid and an idiot.’ _

_ ‘And?’ _

_ ‘Goodnight xoxo’ _

_ ‘:-)’ _

He turned off his phone's notifications and closed his eyes. Tomorrow will be a new day and exciting day. His new life was about to start.

Clay opened his eyes to the noise of his phone alarm blaring a song from the 90s. He rolled over and away from the notice and tried to damp it by pushing the blanket down on his ears. The soft fabric was warm from his own body heat and it was hard to even think about leaving the bed. 

He took off the blanket and let out a big yawn while stretching. His alarm turned off, presumably to be ready to blare at him in 10 minutes. 

He put one foot out from under the blanket and placed it onto the floor. He was surprised when he found carpet, he hadn't noticed that the night before. He pushed himself up and looked into the fuzzy feeling of the floor. It was indeed carpeted but not all over the room. It's a big white carpet in the form of sheep skin. 

He rubbed his feet over it and smiled at the softness of the wool. 

He sighed and reached over to his phone. 

04:36 am

He had to get up if he wanted to spend some time unpacking first. The various cardboard boxes loomed over him in various sizes. 

He sighed and pushed himself up with a swing. As he stepped into the floor he was greeted by the cold wood, he already missed the sheep carpet. 

"Ok Google, play some music."

"Playing Spotify Music." The male voice responded. He preferred the male voice of the artificial intelligence system, the female one was just too high pitched for his ears in the morning. 

A song of what he could only presume to be Dristas personal playlist started playing and he groaned. His sister's music taste was ruined by mainstream media in his opinion. But she would say the absolute same. 

The Google device played some funky pop music. The music felt very european, different languages were mixed into the lyrics and he found himself swaying a little bit as he started to prepare his breakfast. 

He started up the gurgling coffee machine and grabbed milk from the fridge. 

A cereal box greeted him in the cupboard just above the dishwasher.

It was a box of plain old fashioned frosted flakes, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

He sat down at the counter and started spooning his cereal into his mouth while constructing a plan for the day. 

First he had to start with the boxes. There were many still left unpacked. Maybe start with the ones in his bedroom? The next big thing on his mental to do list was a visit to his parents. There he would meet Drista too, they had agreed to have lunch together so he would arrive around 11 at his parents house. 

He couldn't wait to see them again, he had missed them all these years. He wondered if his mom would cook his favorite tonight. Maybe some ribs?

He looked down at himself and remembered his clothes. 

He was only wearing boxers and if he wanted to wear something adequate for a dinner with his parents he would have to change into at least a good shirt. 

Maybe one of the boxes had some clothes. 

He pushed himself up from his seat and put the ceramic bowl into the dishwasher. 

He could always go around the town and shop later, for now he would unbox and check out the rest of the house.

He made a quick departure to the bathroom and was surprised to find a nice looking area. Drista had done a lot in here already. The floor was constructed with white big squared tiles all over, a white bathtub stood in the left corner and was facing a shower in the other corner. He stepped further into the room and shuddered at the cold touch of the tiles, he would have to buy a bathroom rug. 

He opened the two cabinets, the first being closer to the toilet was empty and the second one over the sink was filled with a cheap razor package and a can of shaving foam. 

He closed both and turned to the big cabinets in between the sink and the bathtub, both he found to be as empty as the first cabinet he opened. 

He made a mental note to shop for some bathroom items as well, but they would have to wait until after he visited his parents. 

Clay left the bathroom and checked into the guest room. Boy, did he have a small heart attack when he entered, the room was filled to the brim with boxes and trashbags. He opened one of the bags and peeked inside to find wrapping plastic in masses.

Well that certainly wasn’t environmentally friendly. His curiosity won and he opened one of the bigger cartons, inside he found massive amounts of paper. 

_ My old school documents _ , his mind supplied. Those must be from his old room then. He took out a laminated paper and smiled as he saw his certificate for football. On the backside were signatures from his old teammates. The nostalgia hit him when he saw Richies name. God, when was the last time he had spoken to that guy? about 10 or 11 years ago!

He put down the certificate and placed it back into the carton carefully. 

From this he could assume that most of these cartons were filled with paper junk or other items from his past that he didn’t really need now. 

Luxuries, one would even say. Maybe a few important documents sprinkled in, so he couldn’t put them in the garage. 

Clay returned into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Before he left to start opening and sorting through boxes he turned around one last time.

“Ok Google what time is it?”, he asked the little a.i. 

“It is 5:20 am.” His eyes widened and he had to blink a few times, was it already this late? It had been a good decision afterall to wake up earlier. 

“Oh so late! Ok Google, set me an alarm for 7:00 am.” 

“Ok, I set an alarm for 7 am.” As the confirmation rang through the air he turned back to hsi task. He would use every single minute to get this done. 

In the middle of folding the last carton in his room he heard the alarm of the a.i remind him that it was time to stop. 

He let the cartoon fall down and stretched, getting on his tippy toes and trying to reach the ceiling. 

As he looked over his accomplishment he could proudly declare he was satisfied. He had unpacked a lot and brought the items as best as he could to the right spots. The wardrobe behind bed was now visible and he had started filling the two small wardrobes. One side contained his bed stuff such as sheets, pillowcases and more and the other was left empty for his own wardrobe. More precisely for socks and underwear. The bigger wardrobe in the room was for the bigger stuff such as shirts and pants. 

Another item he had found was an old shirt from his high school days, it was way too small but the fabric was stretchy. 

He grabbed it and the pants and socks from yesterday. It was better than nothing. 

He showered with a single soapbar and added shampoo onto the items he had to buy. 

As he was ready to get out he grabbed the key, his phone and wallet. As he exited he found himself hit with the cold morning air.

Clad in only a thin grey shirt he had no protection against the cold wind. He shuddered and continued on his way.

He took a bus this time and was dropped off in the middle of the city with different shops and one big shopping mall. He decided for the mall and began his shopping spree by entering the first male clothing store he could find. 

It targeted neutral styles and the prices were fine. They promised to be environmentally friendly and after seeing all that plastic waste he felt like he could do something for the ecosystem. 

He grabbed three basic tshirts in black, whtie and grey. The next stop were pants sizes, when was the last time he had purchased a pair of pants? His military uniform was in size L and M but did those apply for stores too? Or were there differences? 

He grabbed the shirts in a size L, after all he remembered every shirt he owned in the military was an L, he had not fit into an M since starting to train and hitting up the gym. 

Maybe he should go with a looser fit and choose L? Or should he trust the sizes from his military clothes. 

“Excuse me Mister, may I be of assistance? You seem to be struggling.” Clay turned around and was met with the face that fit perfectly to the high customer talk voice. A shop assistant dressed in a cream turtleneck and balck pants with short brunette hair smiled at him sweetly. 

“Uhm, actually yes. I haven’t bought clothes in a while and I have no idea if my sizes are the same. My uniform is usually a size M pants fit and for shirts the size L.”, he explained and raised the t-shirt he had already picked. 

“Uniform? Oh are you from the army? We have a discount for you guys! 15% off every clothing item. Your in luck! And for the matter of size don’t worry. I have a measurement tape. Let me just check and we can compare it. It’S quicker than the changing room.”

The girl whipped out the tape from a small pouch on her hips and held it up. 

“Is it alright if I do so?”

He nodded and held still as she took his legs length and hips width. 

“With our sizes you should definitely take the L. Most pants are pretty skinny at the thighs and you’re pretty muscular there. Go with an L.”, she exclaimed and pointed at asizing chart in front of the various types of pants. She spun around and smiled sweetly again as she asked.

“Anything else I can help you with?”

“Uhm, not right now. Thank you.” The girl nodded and turned away, he saw he steer onwards to another customer before he returned to the decision of pants.

Her words flowed through his mind and he decided to skip the skinny jeans collection entirely. He focused on the wide legged ones and grabbed two jeans and a pair of business pants. 

He strolled to the store a bit and found a nice jacket that had fleece inside to keep out the cold. He grabbed it in a XL just to have some room in case the temperatures dropped. 

On his way to the register he grabbed two packs of boxer shorts and a stack of puma socks. As he put down his small clothing haul he pulled out his wallet and tugged out his military id card. 

He waited for someone to show up at the cash register and to his surprise the same lady made a beeline towards him.

“Oh I see you finished! Did you get everything that you needed?”, she questioned and scanned her shop card at the cash register before checking his id. 

“Yeah I did. Thank you for the help again.”

“No problem. Say, I heard the news about the war in Iraq is getting worse again. Is it true they might bring back the mandatory service?”

Now it was Clay’s turn to put on his best customer smile and speak.    
“I’m only a soldier, so I can not tell you that. I can tell you that the war in Iraq seems to be getting worse again but the topic of the military service coming back you will have to ask someone else.”

She nodded but he could see her withdraw from their conversation, she had noticed his almost automated response. But he had no wish to get in trouble for supporting possible fake news about the military. Maybe it was going to come back, was that so bad? He himself had enjoyed his days there. 

She handed him his change and bag with a smile again, he put the cousins and his id back into the wallet and grabbed the bag. The girl wished him a good day which he repeated on his way out. 

A successful trip all in all. He checked the map for the mall and found that on the third floor was a drugstore, he’d go there to get some bare necessities for his bathroom and then grab something from one of the various food stands before leaving and going back home. 

As he was done with shopping he was glad to be on his way back home with a nice kebab in his hand. He had found everything that he would need, shampoo, towels, new toothbrushes and toothpaste. The clothes were the heaviest item and to balance both bags one one side was a bit tiresome but the kebab was worth it and his stomach was thanking him.It wasn’t much to eat but he had to look out to still be hungry when he arrived at his parents place or his mother would scold him. 

“Terrible Manners, that’s what you have! Haven’t I taught you better?” The most common phrase he had heard at home. But in the end she was right, as usual. Her manners had landed him pretty high on the popular people to date list back in highschool and college. 

As he arrived back at his place he was ready to rinse off all that dirt and step into those new clothes. He was excited to meet his parents and to see his little sister after so long again. 

As he was in the middle of his shower a thought crossed his mind. 

How was he going to tell them about George and the kids?

Oh fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please I just want love. This is the only way I can get my daily serotonin so please! I am begging for clout! Just a kudo and a comment would mean everythign to me!   
> Please I need clout...   
> please-


	8. I'm a dad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please leave some love at the end! A comment is always appreciated!

His knuckles hit the doorframe three times before he noticed the bell. They hadn't had one before and he was surprised to see a fully electrical bell with a small camera attached to the dark oak door frame, the name 'Schneider' was scrawled in his father's handwriting over a small sticker stuck to it. He rang the new bell and it didn't take long before footsteps made their way towards him.

The door swung open and his mother greeted him with a big smile. Her brown hair was tied into a bun and some flour stuck to single strands hanging out. Her skin was still full of freckles but her eyes had wrinkles now, even her mouth corners wrinkled up as she smiled.

"Oh my baby!" She cried and slung her arms around him while swaying them both side to side. Her scent penetrated his nose immediately; she smelled so much like home, his eyes teared up at the nostalgic feel. 

"Hey Mom." He answered and smiled into her hair, his voice wavered badly and he could feel his mom squeeze him even tighter. The familiar scent of his mother's favorite perfume and her own scent was mixed in the same way he knew oh so well. The smell of sweet citrus was entangled with the cinnamon like scent of his mother. 

"I missed you so much! You have to tell us everything!" She mumbled and took a step back to draw him in. She had to look up because the height difference between the both of them had gotten more severe over the years. 

"But i did tell you everything in the letters!" He answered and bit his lips from smiling so hard. Though his mothers looks had changed she was still the good old feisty omega woman he had grown to love. 

She stopped and put a hand on her hip. She pointed with her index finger towards him and wriggled it up and down before speaking. 

"I'm your mom! Do you think a letter will be enough? I was worried day for day! I need to know every little bit! And don't you dare leave out any of the juicy details!"

He chuckled and followed her into the kitchen as she turned around to lead the way.

The house seemed to be in almost the same condition he had left it in. The various rugs all over the floor had remained, they were in the most unusual colours with patterns and different materials. They had a stone floor without underneath heating which had resulted in his mom putting rugs on every inch of the house. She didn’t like carpet too much, she always complained about the tedious cleaning process, which resulted in her liking the rugs more. The walls were pretty tame against the colorful floor. The kitchen had changed slightly, the walls remained the same but the machines on the counters had changed. He turned back to his mom and opened his mouth when a new voice greeted him. 

"Hey updog." Clay turned his head and was met with the open arms of his father as the man grinned from one ear to the other. The man’s silver rimmed glasses were a new sight, they rested on the bridge of his nose where they were seemingly starting to slide off. 

His fathers hair, the blond streaks were riddles with grey patches.

Clay turned so quickly to the man that he could feel his neck hurt. He didn't care though, his bond with his father had gotten severally better after he finished uni and went to the army. His father had been the one to use the remaining months before the training camp and train with him. They had prepared to make Clay stronger and more durable, the military was a straight testosterone zone and being weak wasn't an option there.

As Clay swung his arms around the man he could feel that the other had kept up his training even after he had left. His dad smelled still of the same aftershave that had that typical sandalwood scent. The man’s own scent was always heavily masked by that. 

"You kept on training?" He mumbled and felt his father's head nod as the man patted his back.

"Yeah, I thought I had to get over the problem of not wanting to train alone. I even found some friends there!"

He let go of his father and crooked his head to the side.

"And how do I look?" He asked and flexed his arm carefully as to not tear the fabric of the new shirt.

"Definitely better, you stand up straighter and you look healthier. I like that the short haircut has stayed, I hated the long hair." His father chuckled and flicked his head softly. 

Clay shrugged with his shoulders. He sometimes missed his long hair, but then again everyone liked the short hair more so he stayed with that.

He turned back to see his mother carefully watching the both with a smile on her lips.

Clay understood her concerns. Before he had started university he and his dad had been on a bad wavelength, they never seemed to click. There was always something that made both alphas rage quickly.

A mere huff at his mother's words hand resonated at a slap from his Dad. Now the situation had been resolved and the two males were closer than ever.

"Where's the worm?" Clay asked and snaked his way through the kitchen area to see what was cooking on the stove.

But as he opened the pot a hand snaked his own away from the stove.

"Ow" he groaned and flayed his hand around.

"No peeking! Just let it be a surprise!" His mother berated him. "And I don't know of any worm living in this house."

But the small snickering as she spoke the last words told him that she understood his implications.

"The only worm that I've seen around would be you." A new voice called from the living room area. As he turned away from the kitchen he saw his little sister turning around the corner and flicking him off with a bold grin.

"Mom!" He called and saw as the color drained from Dritsas face as she quickly stumbled to make it seem like she was scratching her head with the finger.

Their parents just ignored the antics and circled around the stove to usher Clays prying eyes away.

He huffed and swung an arm around Drista as he led them both to the sofa. They plummeted down on the soft surface of the plaid mustered sofa.

The tv had been upgraded to a flat screen which hung proudly on the wall.

The new remote had bigger buttons too, maybe a senior remote? Had the short-sighted problems gotten worse?

"So, how's the new place?"

Clay smiled and turned back to his sister. She had definitely changed over the years, he had noticed so over the video chats but in person it felt more real.

"It's great. I can't start to even show you how grateful I am. You helped me a lot."

"What about you, how are you doing?" Clay asked.

"Eh," She answered and shrugged with grimace. "Financially I'm doing well, my job is paying well. Mentally it's so so."

Clay pushed himself up and waited for her to continue.

"Ah I guess it's just ...I'm lonely? I lost a lot of contact after finishing high school. I really thought that those friendships would stay, you know. Remember Emma?" Drista hugged her arms around herself as she kept on explaining. He nodded for her to continue and she did. Emma was Richie's little sister, a shy and loveable person that had always gotten along pretty well with Drista.

"I really thought she'd care more about me. She moved on so quick! It was like she never knew me! She decided to keep on going to school and went to university, at the start we texted a lot but then she started ignoring me." Drista kicked out her legs over his lap and sniffled as she kept on going.

"And then she blocked me, I was so confused and messaged her over FaceBook, who even uses that still?! But she simply blocked me on there too!" She took a deep breath and rubs at her eyes a bit. Her eyes are starting to look slightly red and Clay took it as his cue to come forwards with a hug. Drista pulled him closer and sniffles against his new black shirt, but in that moment the feelings of his sister are more important than some clothes.

"And then I'm like 'I can't just let 6 years of friendship vanish like that' so I drive out to her uni and ask around. I finally find her and what does she do? Tells me that I'm too clingy! And when I ask why she waves it off and goes onto this monologue in front of fucking everyone around us, mind it we're in the middle of the campus, how I'm such a controlling fake friend! So I tell her that I want to talk with her in private and that we can sort it out and then she starts screaming at me profanities like a child! She acts like I'm dumb and proceeds to scream like a child. And then she rants on about how she made it further than me, said I'm to dumb for her. And then she just storms off!"

Dristas sadness had changed into anger, her hands were gripping his shirt tightly and he pushed her slightly from himself.

"Well what happened then? Did you leave?"

"Obviously! I was done with here."

"Did you stay calm?" She quirks her eyebrow at his question and he crocks his head.

"I meant while the argument, come on I know you."

She rolls her eyes and wraps her arms around herself again. "Yeah, I screamed too." She admits and he can see her ears heat up in shame.

Clay hummed in acknowledgment and waited for her to continue but she didn't. He knew his sister; he knew that she was only human too and sometimes she showed her human flaws. Drista had been very demanding at the start of the friendship with Emma, but he knew that it had gotten better after a few months. He couldn't speak with much inside knowledge, but he knew that both girls always had a healthy competition with each other. Maybe Emma just felt like Drista had lost that competition?

"I remember you two being rather competitive with each other. You two always strived with that friendly rivalry. Maybe without the close proximity it turned bad? Maybe she feels like you lost and she's acting out on her so-called 'victory'. Deciding to go to university must have felt like a win." He kicked his sister's leg at her sour mine and gave her an encouraging smile.

"Hey, don't look so down! I myself didn't want to go and at the end I did, what did it do for me? Nothing! I met a ton of people who wasted their lives in university and ended up with a dead-beat job, just because they did what their parents wanted and not what they loved."

He sighed and scooted a bit closer. He leaned over and pointed at himself.

"Remember the big fights I had with dad? I would have ended up the same, at least I think so. I would have worked myself to death." He inhaled and leaned back a bit, Drista was still watching him closely. Her expression showed that she was listening closely, and he felt taken back many years. Back to times where Drista still believed he knew everything that was in this world. Back then she needed advice or protection from the monsters under her bed.

He smiled at the memory of her telling him about the scary man under her bed. The shadow man. Even now she was waiting patiently for his 'wisdom'.

"What I'm trying to say is, I get that you're angry. But I don't think you're angry about losing Emma. You're angry about what she said. I know how uncertain you were. After hearing how Dad was like with me you were scared it would be the same with you. But I promise you, you did the right thing, your job is your passion! Don't feel down for doing what you love. You’re doing good, you're pretty stable you said so yourself! Cheer up, maybe in a few years you'll be famous! You'll sing in the biggest musicals! Maybe on Broadway!"

He poked her in between the ribs to cheer her up and she giggles while trying to escape his fingers.

"Stop! Haha! I get it!" She sprung up from the couch and took a deep breath before hugging him close and thanking him.

"Thanks for the pep talk, I really missed you."

"No problem, I missed you too worm."

She giggled and shoved him away. He joined into the fun and stood up quickly to tickle her again. But she was quicker this time and made a beeline towards the kitchen.

"Oh Drista perfect, I need some help with setting the table, would you-"

He could almost hear his sisters' stifled groans as she quickly agreed.

His father entered the living room, he was carrying a pack of cigarettes and nodded into the direction of the backyard.

"Want to go out for a bit? The girls can finish up the rest, your mom doesn't want to spoil the meal surprise yet."

Clay nodded and stepped out the backdoor with his dad.

His dad pulled a blue lighter from his back pocket. He scrolled the mechanism a few times before the lighter sparked and a small flame lit up the bud.

His father pulled two plastic chairs out and sat down before taking a deep breath from the cigarette.

“Want one?” His father asked and tangled the pack in front of his nose. Clay took his please on the other plastic chair and shook his shoulders.

“I quit, my friend Techno had a huge addiction. I quit with him together to help him.”

His dad blew out the smoke and leaned back looking much calmer than before.

“Oh, I remember him, believe me.” His dad chuckled and had to catch his breath a few times after having inhaled the smoke wrongly. His father smiled as caught himself and continued talking. “I remember the day when you suddenly appeared in the middle of the school term and just told us that you were going to stay here for the rest of the month before joining the army.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “You always were uncontrollable.”

“I guess. I am still happy about that decision. Look at us now, I don’t think we’d ever be able to sit like this if I wouldn’t have gone there. That month cleared a lot of shit.”

His father nodded and clapped him on his shoulder.

“I know. You did good, son. I’m honestly proud about you. To have the courage and stand up to you old man like that…” His father redrew his hand and looked out into the distance of the garden. “I guess I would never have done that.”

His father sighed and twirled his cigarette before taking the stub and flicking it down and scrunching it into the ground.

“But let us look at the present, how are you holding up? Have you met any friends yet? I met Richie in the supermarket just last week!”

Clay took in a deep breath and sighed as his father gave him the knowing look all parents had done imprinted into their bones.

“You met someone, but you don’t seem that happy about it. Spill the beans, kid.”

Clay bit his lip and ran his hands through his hair. He wasn’t sure on how to start; sure the question would have come but then again he hadn’t thought about a way to answer.

“Yes. I did meet someone…do you remember George?”

He turns towards his dad, who blinks before seemingly regaining his ability to think and nodding.

“God Bless that boy! Of course, how couldn’t I? He was the one to set you straight for the first time in your life!” He smiled a bit and nodded at his father’s words.

“Well, I met him.”

“And?” His father questions with curiosity highlighting the word.

He took a deep breath and turned towards his father, he took his father’s hands and looked at their palms together laying on the plastic chairs armrest.

“I’m a dad. You and mom are both grandparents.”

His father opened his mouth a few times and closed it immediately after. He searched all over Clay’s face as if to find traces of deceit and jest.

“You aren’t lying?” His father’s voice cracked at the end and the older man took his hand up to his own face as he pushed up his glasses and rubbed over his eyes. With red eyes and tears threatening to spill he smiled and hid his sniffling by continuing to speak.

“I’m a what?”

“You’re a grandfather!” Clay continued and his dad nodded slowly taking the words in. His father nodded slowly and looked upwards into the sky. Clay could see the man's shoulder shake softly as he tried his best to hold back the transparent pearls.

He didn’t get far, Clay tried to calm him by putting a hand on his back but that was when his father looked back at him and the tears started rolling down the old man’s cheeks.

“Tell me everything.”

And that’s what he does. He tells his father about how he first met the family on the train and how he had this weird feeling he couldn’t shake off as he looked at the two pups. He describes them in great detail and curses himself at not having asked for a picture to take home. His father listened closely the whole time and rubs his tears away till he looks composed again.

He finished with his story and his father is smiling in joy.

“That’s lovely. I can not wait to see them. But tell me why did he hide them from you? I mean you two were so close, you never really told us what happened at the end, a fight alone couldn’t be what brought this all on or?”

Clay winced and shook his head.

“That’s for another day. I don’t want to give you a bad image of George right now. He really did want to tell me about the kids, but he never found the right way. I think a part of him was just worried about my reaction, the fight made us say some shit that we didn’t mean.”

His father nodded slowly. “But why didn’t he contact us at least, his family is across the ocean! He would be working himself to death with two kids.”

Clay winced at the accusing tone and reached out to calm his father.

“He’s working really hard, I’m sure he was even more scared to meet you. I mean an omega showing up pregnant after your son had left for the army, that sounds like a bad drama. He had met you like twice before, I think he was worried that you would judge him. Maybe even not believe him.”

“I see,” His father sighed and shook his head. “We should have known, of course it would happen. You were stuck to George from the very start, your mother actually thought that you’d try to find him in a mere few months. But I guess you two met sooner.”

His father cleared his throat and closed his palms together into a praying hand gesture. He sat there in silence for a few seconds,with his eyes closed before he turned to Clay and with the most solemn expression he said:

“You better take responsibility soon. You have to get your life together now quickly, a car is a must and I think you don’t have much time to decide on what you want. Luckily I have the scrapbook ready. You also need to find out what you want with this new arrangement. If you want to get back with George or simply take care of the children is a difference that needs to be discussed. You need to find an agreement and make a contract. Now hear me out, I know it could feel like you don’t need one but the contract will act as a safety net for both of you. Whatever happened all those years ago made George feel anxious enough to be scared to tell you, and you were clearly not ready to to talk about your pride issues. Get a lawyer and make that contract and get George to sign. And boy let me tell you I will end you if there is one single thing that would make it easy for you to storm off and leave him with the two pups. He’s an omega all alone living away from his parents! He has no one to back him up, he’s all alone and god dammit Clay you know what happens.”

His father huffed at the end of his speech and grasped his shoulder tightly. He swallowed as the icy bles focused on him. 

“You can’t leave him like this. I have no idea how he even managed to stay afloat so long.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pls give clout?
> 
> Need clout pls


	9. Jittery Messs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read End Notes!

After the conversation with his father dinner started quickly. They had agreed to keep it quiet until the conversation could steer safely into hat topic at dinner. He was glad to have his father by his side, he knew that someone knew already and that made it incredibly easier. As they sat down at the fully decked out table with napkins folded into special arrangements, he gasped at the dish standing proudly on the table. His mother’s surprise dish turned out to be Buffalo Wings and potatoes with a killer dip recipe that his mother had perfected over the years. 

“So Clay, tell us how is the new house? That was probably the first time I’ve seen anyone buy a house over a Video Call.” His mother chirped and offered him some lemon water as she poured herself a glass.

“I mean Drista was there, she saw the whole thing. I trust her to pick a good one. The house is really nice. I like the modern theme. I have only one problem and that is clothes. I went shopping today just to get some fresh clothes. Also, some other stuff like toothbrushes and shampoo was missing but I got it now.”

“Oh? Well if it’s only clothes, I mean we still have some of you clothes you left when you moved back? Maybe some could still fit you? You can try when we’re finished with dinner.”

Well that was convenient, but he doubted that he’d fit in the old shirts. The shop clerk had been right with going a size bigger. Looking down the fabric of the shirt was just right for his upper body.

“I’ll do that thanks! How about you? What have you two been doing?”

“Oh you know,” His father started. “Retirement has been nice. I’ve more time for the little things now. Though it is still hard to relax and not think about work. Ask your mother! She is constantly thinking about what her schedule would have been like if she was still working at that school.”

“Paul!” His mother scolded and chuckled lightly as the man shrugged his shoulders and gave a cocky grin.

“Don’t listen to him, Clay. Retirement is nice, I’m spending my time in the garden. Oh, and I’ve started reading again, I’m even thinking about joining the small book club in the library!” His mother wavered around excitedly with her fork, making the food on her fork fall. The omega cursed quietly and took a napkin to quickly wipe up the mess.

“One more point for the stone floor, I’ll tell you for forever that carpet is overrated!”

He smiled at the familiar antic as the other two at the table met eyes and rolled them simultaneously. Clay smiled and took a sip from the cold lemon water.

“Oh Clay, I wanted to ask you about the new job! How much does it pay you in comparison to the one in the military?” His sister asked and turned towards him

He short circuited for a second and he thought about the difference. The workers at the military “Back to the Normal World” Building and helped him find that job. They had explained the major differences in great detail, different work hours, a private office and of course no more physical training. The pay difference wasn’t that significant. If he remembered correctly he’d earn a few bucks more an hour.

“I think 55 an hour. Pretty good, or?” He mumbled and smiled as he heard the gasps of his family.

“You earn what?!” His sister exclaimed. As he looked up from his own plate she was staring at him with eyes as round as saucers.

“I know, it’s not exactly normal. I had ties already and my knowledge on computing made me fairly popular. And then by luck a soldier retired and I got his position. I was really lucky. I haven’t done much with the money yet, a lot of it went into the new house. But I think it’ll be harder in the future.”

“What do you mean? You earn more than me and my coworkers together! You can just save some money on the bank and make sure to get a good interest rate! You can definitely sustain yourself in the future!”

He smiled slightly and caught his dad's eyes as he put down the cutlery and took another sip from his water. His father understood his indication and gave him a nod to continue.

“It’s still not enough, I need to think about the new costs. Two new beds, a bunch of toys, maybe some books…” His mothers face changes into one of confusion. His sister’s is a scowl as if she’s trying her hardest to understand something and his father smiles mysteriously down against the rim of his glass. “I don’t know mom. What else could two pups need? Let’s say both are 9 years old and have a charming father named George.”

His mother and sister share the same expression, mouth open as their eyes try to take in what just happened. He smiled unsurely and waits for any reaction.

“What the hell are you talking about?” His sister asks and looks around the table. “What is he saying?”

His mother shrugs and looks back at him with the same question in her eyes. He sighed and cleans his throat before trying to explain it differently. This time he made sure to spill the truth quickly, he’d reveal the wound as quick as ripping of a band aid.

“Mom congratulations on becoming a grandmother 9 years ago, Drista you’re officially an aunt.”

“What?!” His sister shrieks and his mother stares in disbelief at his father as if the men held the answers for this situation. His sister points at him across the table as she continues.

“George!” She accuses loudly and lets out a stream of curses. “I can’t believe this! Did you know?! Since when?!”

“Since yesterday.” He answers solemnly and his mom gasps.

“This is true? This isn’t some kind of prank. Oh please Clay my heart couldn’t take that. Tell me this is true! Why did he hide them?”

“He didn't, it's complicated. The fight left him insecure and he didn’t know how to tell me. He did tell me after seeing me though, he didn’t try to hide them or anything.”

His mother nodded and pushed herself back in her seat.

“What are their names?”

“Lucas and Elsa, I don’t have a picture yet sadly. I could write George and ask him for one?”

“Oh please dear! Do so!” His mom quickly said and cleaned her mouth corners with a napkin. He pushed himself up from the chain and quickly dipped into the floor where he grabbed his smartphone from his jacket’s pockets.

_ Hey, I told my parents about them. I’m at their place rn. _

He hadn’t finished wording the next message when George’s status changed to online and the three dots telling him the omega was typing appeared.

_ Oh god, how did it go? _

He smiled and shook his head; he could hear the worry over a simple text message.

_ Don’t worry, they’re just shocked. Mom wants a picture, could you send one? _

__

_ Of course! Could you tell them that I’m sorry? I didn’t want them to be left out. I just had no idea on what to do. _

_ Oh and here it is: image.04 _

__

_ It's fine, don’t worry. How are you today? _

__

_ Good. _

_ Actually, no. Can we call? _

Clay sends the picture to his sisters’ phone before he hits call.

It doesn’t take a second for George to answer. His voice is rough, and he seems hoarse.

“Hey,” The omega croaks out and Clays feels his stomach turn slightly.

“Hey, what’s going on? You sound really bad.”

A sniffle and a strong swallow followed by some rustling before George answered.

“I just feel so guilty, I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, this isn’t just your fault. Now tell me why you sound like you’ve been crying?”

“I…well,” A sigh before George answers with a wavering voice. “I think it’s a biology thing. Yesterday when I put Elsa to bed, I went to bet myself immediately after. I had this weird feeling I couldn’t shake off, I figured it was excitement but then I got all weird.”

“What do you mean weird?”

“I actually thought I was entering my heat, which is crazy I haven’t had my heat in 8 years! And before you say something, I know it’s weird but I can’t change it. I think it could have something to do with the kids or you.”

“George, what is wrong right now, you’re mumbling to yourself right now! Are you okay?”

“Oh yes, sorry. It’s really weird, it isn’t a heat it’s like I don’t know. It’s just weird, I wasn’t y’know but I was heating up. It wasn’t a fever though. It disappeared pretty quickly after I took my heat suppressant meds. I didn’t even know I had some left. But it wasn’t a heat, it wasn’t nice at all, it was just hot and I was just really sad.”

Clay didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t really ready to talk about heats with George. He didn’t know much about Omega biology anyways.

“Call your doctor then? I mean I can, if you want I mean if you’re okay with it I could look after the kids while you’re gone?”

A silence followed and his heart broke a little bit. He understood that George wouldn’t trust him with the kids just yet but he deserved an answer at least.

“George?” He questioned with a much softer voice than before.

“Yeah, I’m still here sorry, I just… I wouldn’t have thought you’d actually do that. I don’t know I know this is so stupid but I just- “

A deep breath followed, and he could hear George audibly trying to calm himself. “Sorry, I don’t know why I am so jittery. I feel so weird. I don’t want to go but then again I can’t watch the kids like this.”

“It’s fine! Don’t worry. Should I come get them from school?”

“No they don’t know you well enough to do that. I mean Elsa would probably go now but Lucas wouldn’t go. How about I’ll get them from school and drive them over? Your parents could meet them if that’s not too much.”

Clay chuckled: “Trust me I’m sure they’d love to meet them.”

“Thank you, Clay. I know this is quick, but I think it’s best if I let it get checked out.”

“It’s okay. Your health is important. Give me a quick text before you arrive?”

“Sure! See you then. Thanks again!”

A click and the line went dead. He put his phone into his back pocket to keep it close as he reentered the room.

“I have another surprise.”

His family gathered around his sister’s phone and looked all up at him. He smiled as he saw the picture that George had sent him on the screen, his father had previously been pointing at the framed picture of Clay that hung on the wall next to his sisters.

“What would that be? Is it George? Is he coming?” His mother questioned.

“No, he isn’t feeling well and asked if I could take the kids. I said yes.”

His father's smile widened, and he saw the happy twinkle that was so rarely there. He could already see his father being a great grandfather. His sister was just as excited, she looked ready to burst.

“You can’t just drop this all on us! But I am not complaining if they come here! I can’t wait to meet my niece and nephew!”

His mother’s expression was the only one that surprised him, she looked shocked!

“Mom?” He asked carefully as she pushed herself up from her chair and hoped off into the kitchen

“Cookies Clay. We need something sweet really quick! I have to prepare something before meeting my grandkids!”

He smiled and shook his head, why had he been worried about this again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> This is going to be a bit serious:  
> I took a small break as some of you might have noticed. I needed some time away from writing because of a comment that really upset me. I don't wanna get into what it said but I just want you all to know that it is not okay to hate on fanfic writers and tell them to go **** themselfes. In no way shape or form do you have any right to do that and I am shocked to find out how many writers are getting this treatment in the community.   
> I will continue this story so don't worry but please remember I'm a person too. I will not respond to anonymous hate and I will delete these comments. If you have actual critic than go for it. I don't mind criticism. But if an anon users give me hate than I'll just delete those comments. I don't have the mental strenght to deal with that crap so I won't.   
> Please leave some love on fellow writers stories in the community! Just let it be a small message it really doesn't matter how much it is!  
> And don't tell people hurtful shit.   
> Lots of Love,  
> Kassy

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Twitter! I interact with my moots and I follow back.  
> https://twitter.com/Kassyseptic
> 
> Or you could always leave a kudo and a comment :)  
> Don't forget to share your own ideas for the story! I always love getting ideas from my readers!


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